Background: Robert Stallard, Soho, 1973 · The museum of Soho permanent collection
Digital collection
The Colony Room
41 Dean Street · 1948-2008
Step inside one of Soho's most celebrated private clubs through photographs preserved by The museum of Soho.
Stitched panorama
Inside the green room
Panorama © Mick Frank / The museum of Soho.
A brief history
Sixty years of Soho bohemia
The Colony Room Club opened in 1948 in a small first-floor room at 41 Dean Street. Its founder, Muriel Belcher, secured an afternoon-to-evening licence for the private members' club at a time when public houses had to close during the afternoon.
Francis Bacon arrived shortly after the club opened and became a founding and lifelong member. Belcher encouraged him to bring friends and patrons, helping the vivid green room become a meeting place for artists, writers, musicians, actors and Soho's LGBTQ+ community. The club became closely associated with post-war British art and with figures including John Deakin, Lucian Freud, Henrietta Moraes and Jeffrey Bernard.
After Belcher's death in 1979, the club was run by Ian Board and later Michael Wojas. A younger generation followed, including artists associated with the Young British Artists. The original Colony Room closed in December 2008, sixty years after it opened.
Further reading
Tales from the Colony Room: Soho's Lost Bohemia
Explore Darren Coffield's account of the people, art and stories surrounding the Colony Room.
Sources and further reading: Historic England and the National Portrait Gallery.
Photographic archive
People of the Colony Room
A very early photograph of the Colony Room Club, believed to have been taken in the 1940s and featuring the original bamboo-dominated decor. Muriel Belcher, who founded the club in 1948, is centre, right of the typically louche crowd.
Photograph: Colony Archive / courtesy Darren Coffield.
Belcher with Ian Board, who succeeded her as the club's proprietor, and other members in the early 1950s.
Photograph: Colony Archive / courtesy Darren Coffield.
Colony Room Club members in the 1960s. Francis Bacon is standing at the back with his head slightly bowed. Belcher and Board are by the bar on the left.
Photograph: Colony Archive / courtesy Darren Coffield.
The celebrated jazz singer and writer George Melly wearing drag at the club during the 1960s.
Photograph: Darren Coffield.
Belcher, right, at her regular perch at the Colony Room Club bar. She recruited Francis Bacon at the club's inception to bring in wealthy new members. Bacon was then an unknown artist and welcomed the exchange of free drinks for his services.
Photograph: Colony Archive / courtesy Darren Coffield.
The US artist Jeff Koons at the club in the early 1990s.
Photograph: Darren Coffield.