The Colony Room Club was a private members' drinking club at 41 Dean Street, Soho, London. It was founded and presided over by Muriel Belcher from its inception in 1948 until her death in 1979.

Venue: The Colony Room Club
Town: London, GB

The Colony Room Club was a private members' drinking club at 41 Dean Street, Soho, London. It was founded and presided over by Muriel Belcher from its inception in 1948 until her death in 1979. The artist Francis Bacon was a founder and lifelong member, and the club attracted a mixture of Soho's low-lifes and its alcoholic, artistic elite, including George Melly, Jeffrey Bernard and Lucian Freud. Visiting non-members included many names from aristocratic, political and artistic circles, including Princess Margaret, William Burroughs, David Bowie and Henri Cartier-Bresson. The club attracted the Young British Artists in the 1990s. In 1948, Muriel Belcher secured a 3pm-to-11pm drinking licence for The Colony Room Club as a private members club (public houses had to close at 2.30pm). The room was operated by Belcher from that year until her death in 1979. Francis Bacon was a founding member, walking in the day after it opened. He was "adopted" by Belcher who called him "Daughter", and gave him free drinks and £10 a week to bring in friends and rich patrons. The club was located in a tiny first-floor room in Dean Street, Soho, and was notorious for its decor as well as its clientele. Originally smartly decorated in a colonial style, it was repainted in the 1950s; its green walls became famous. Members described the staircase that led to the establishment as foul-smelling and flanked by dustbins, and talked of "going up the dirty stairs". The club played an important role in Soho society. Members in Belcher's time also included Daniel Farson; Michael Andrews; John Deakin; and Henrietta Moraes, whose portrait by Bacon sold for £21.3 million in February 2012. Belcher's open attitude towards sexuality attracted many gay men to the club, many of them brought there by her Jamaican girlfriend, Carmel. Belcher had a knack for attracting or discovering interesting and colourful people, and the patronage of men such as George Melly and Francis Bacon helped to establish the Colony