| Peter Stringfellow | |
|---|---|
| Born | 17 October 1940 Sheffield, West Riding of Yorkshire, England |
| Occupation | Club owner |
| Spouse | Bella Wright (m. 2009–present) |
| Website | |
| Official website | |
Peter James Stringfellow (born 17 October 1940) is an English nightclub owner.
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Stringfellow was born on 17 October 1940 in Sheffield to Elsie (née Bowers) and James William Stringfellow (1919–2003), a steelworker.[1] The eldest of four sons, the family briefly lived in London during the 1950s where he attended Finchley Catholic Grammar School.
After leaving school, he became a cinema projectionist. Then after six weeks at his father's steel works, he joined the British Merchant Navy aged 17. On a trip to New York he visited the many night clubs, and on return left the Merchant Navy and became a salesman during the day (he sold insurance, sewing machines and vacuum cleaners), to enable him to run dance nights at a local church hall,[2] and then open his own club in Sheffield, the Black Cat Club. In 1963 he opened the King Mojo Club,[3] which in its three years of operation played host to Jimi Hendrix, Wilson Pickett, Ike and Tina Turner, Stevie Wonder and The Small Faces.[1] Lived in Steeton, near Keighley. Owned a nightclub in Keighley
Moving to London in the late 1970s, he quickly expanded his business, and then opened clubs in the United States in the late 1980s in New York, Miami and Los Angeles. The fast expansion ended in bankruptcy in 1992. Able to buy back the lease of the original Stringfellows from the receivers, on holiday he went to a strip club in Fort Lauderdale. On return he converted his club in Covent Garden, London from having girls three nights a week in 1996, to rebrand it "Cabaret of Angels" in 2000, when it became a strip club seven nights a week.
He presently owns the Stringfellow's table-dancing clubs in London – Stringfellows Covent Garden and Stringfellows Angels. He was the first club owner to gain a fully nude licence from Westminster Council. Stringfellow criticised the Policing and Crime Act 2009, saying the licensing changes with regards to lap-dancing clubs were "unnecessary" and he would be appealing to the European Court of Human Rights if his current licences were not renewed.[4]
Stringfellow appeared on a celebrity edition of Come Dine With Me, first broadcast on 17 September 2008 alongside fellow celebrities Lee Ryan, Michelle Heaton and Linda Barker. He appeared on Top Gear Season 15 Episode 1 which broadcasted on 27 June 2010.
Stringfellow married 27-year-old former Royal Ballet dancer Bella Wright in Barbados on Valentine's Day, 2009.[5] He has a daughter, Karen, 45, and a son, Scott, 42, from an earlier relationship.[6]
He owns a home on the Spanish island of Majorca, and a boat berthed in Ibiza. He is a regular contributor to the Majorca-based celebrity-spotting publication. He is known as a supporter of the British Conservative Party and was a vocal proponent of the No2AV campaign during the 2011 UK Referendum.