Aspinall's is a private gambling club

Gentlemen's club

A gentlemen's club is a members-only private club of a type originally set up by and for British upper class men in the eighteenth century, and popularised by English upper-middle class men and women in the late nineteenth century. Today, some are more open about the gender and social status of...

, the latest of a string established by John Aspinall

John Aspinall (zoo owner)

John Victor Aspinall was a British zoo owner and gambler. He was born in Delhi, India, but was a citizen of the United Kingdom.-Biography:...

 since the 1960s. Aspinall's is currently located at 27-28 Curzon Street

Curzon Street

Curzon Street is located within the exclusive Mayfair district of London. The street is located entirely within the W1J postcode district and is 400 yards to the north west of Green Park tube station...

 in Mayfair

Mayfair

Mayfair is an area of central London, within the City of Westminster.-History:Mayfair is named after the annual fortnight-long May Fair that took place on the site that is Shepherd Market today...

 of London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

. It is designed by renowned British interior designer, Tessa Kennedy

Tessa Kennedy

Tessa Georgina Kennedy , better known as Tessa Kennedy, is a British interior designer, whose clients include multi-national corporations, royalty, celebrities and many European hotels, restaurants and clubs...

.

History

Club founder, John Aspinall

John Aspinall (zoo owner)

John Victor Aspinall was a British zoo owner and gambler. He was born in Delhi, India, but was a citizen of the United Kingdom.-Biography:...

 (known as "Aspers" to his friends) was a conservationist and breeder of wild animals who funded his zoos, in large part, from house winnings. In its earlier days, Aspinall's clientele comprised the traditional aristocratic elite

British nobility

-General History of British Nobility:The nobility of the four constituent home nations of the United Kingdom has played a major role in shaping the history of the country, although in the present day even hereditary peers have no special rights, privileges or responsibilities, except for residual...

 who gambled away their inheritances. While this is still true to some extent, the gradual decline of the English landed gentry

Landed gentry

Landed gentry is a traditional British social class, consisting of land owners who could live entirely off rental income. Often they worked only in an administrative capacity looking after the management of their own lands....

 has forced Aspinall's to look elsewhere.

Aspinall's evaded major public recognition until the 1970s. Lord Lucan

Richard Bingham, 7th Earl of Lucan

Richard John Bingham, 7th Earl of Lucan , popularly known as Lord Lucan, as Lord Bingham before 1964, and sometimes colloquially called "Lucky" Lucan, was a British peer, who disappeared in the early hours of 8 November 1974, following the murder of Sandra Rivett, his children's nanny, the previous...

was a close friend of John Aspinall. Lucan's consequent disappearance catapulted the club into mainstream consciousness. Aspinall commissioned a bust of Lucan which remains displayed prominently.