Les Ambassadeurs Club

The building at 5 Hamilton Place was built between 1807 and 1810 by Thomas Leverton and remodelled in the Venetian Renaissance style by W. R. Rogers of William Cubitt for Leopold de Rothschild.

[1] Interior decoration in the Louis XV and fin de siècle style was completed by John Jackson, Mellier, Forsythe.

[3] The main gaming floor of the club has sixteen tables, where American roulette, baccarat, blackjack and Three Card Poker can be played.

[3][7] The club was memorably visited in October 1948 by actress Pat Kirkwood, accompanied by the high society photographer Baron and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

[9] The screenwriter Charles Bennett said of the Milroy during the Second World War that "Scotch whiskey and champagne flowed like the Niagara river rapids.

Nero fiddled while Rome burned, and if there was death outside in darkest London, within the warmth and brilliance of the Milroy there was food, drink and dancing".

[18] Les Ambassadeurs has since been sold to another Chinese business person, Paul Ho Chung Suen, who also owns Birmingham City F.C.

[19] Notable members of the club have included film producer Betty Box, bookmaker Victor Chandler, magician’s assistant Debbie McGee, football manager Alex Ferguson, businessman Philip Green, attorney general Michael Havers, Baron Havers, entrepreneurs Robert and Vincent Tchenguiz, and football agent Pini Zahavi.

[17][16] A 2007 article in The Evening Standard described Les Ambassadeurs as attracting a predominantly Middle Eastern clientele of "Kuwaitis, Saudis, and Iranian Jews", and that a 2005 profit warning from the club was partially caused by a decline in gambling revenues during Ramadan.

The Beatles are shown dancing to "I Wanna Be Your Man" and "Don't Bother Me" in the Garrison Room and find Wilfrid Brambell at the Le Cercle gaming tables.