LONDON'S Groucho Club has been given the green light to reopen with 'strict' conditions following a marathon licensing meeting on Wednesday, 18 December.

The club shut in November at the request of the Metropolitan Police following an alleged rape at the premises.

Westminster City Council's licensing committee said new conditions agreed between the police and Groucho's management meant the club could reopen so long as members are limited to inviting four guests onto the premises and accompany them at all times.

The committee has also ordered customer toilets to be monitored every 30 minutes. Committee chair cllr Aziz Toki said the conditions were 'appropriate and proportionate' and said the club could reopen once they had been met. The Local Democracy Reporting Service understands Groucho has spent the past three weeks implementing these measures.

Gary Grant, representing the Met Police, said the force had three concerns about how the club was operating. He said: "Firstly, lax procedures on the admission of members and guests and the recording of who was in their premises. Secondly, insufficient welfare training and procedures that required improvement. Thirdly, the inadequacy of the supervision of the toilet areas. There were other serious matters that will be addressed in private session.

"These issues are, the police believe, addressed in an appropriate and proportionate manner, by the new set of robust conditions proposed which both the police and licence holder have agreed to and we commend to the Council."

Guests will also need to sign up online to enter the club for a private event and will be sent a QR code to be let in. Meanwhile, Groucho's has agreed to have a welfare officer on site most nights and that staff receive refresher training every six months. It has also offered for an attendant to monitor the toilets until June 2025, after which time staff members will become responsible.

New members will have to wait 48 hours before being able to access the club. Helen Lederer, a Groucho member for over 30 years, said the club was 'unique' and urged councillors to let it reopen. She said: "It's not a corporate club. The liberty and the legacy and the charity and the industry that takes place in there isn't really spoken about as much as understandable headlines."

She said club has run events for struggling writers, which she said she has hosted, and is an important venue for artists in the capital. She said: "We elevate people's lives by coming into the building for artistic events. It's a friendly and welcoming venue.

"This is a unique, unique institution. It is known in London and worldwide. If it goes, it will be a big loss for all those things I briefly cited for you today."

Philip Kolvin KC, representing Groucho's, said the club's management was "chastened" to be at Wednesday's meeting. He said the club sympathised with the alleged victim and had not challenge a request by the Met police to temporary close the venue last month.

He said the club had worked with the Met Police to establish a number of measures to improve security and suggested the club suffered a one-off lapse in standards.

He told the committee: "When you get clubs constantly suffering from crime, there is a heightened sense of alert, but when you get clubs that suffer little crime, that process becomes a little raggard." The committee also heard from the council's own licensing and environmental health teams, which backed the new conditions and found no instances of public nuisance at Groucho's in the past two years.

The public has not been allowed to view documents relating to Goucho's licensing review on the grounds it would likely identify an individual. Wednesday's meeting was also partially held in public thanks to a challenge by the press.

In most circumstances, licence review meetings take place in public and documents relating to them are typically shared in the public domain beforehand.

The private members' club in Soho had its licence temporarily suspended in late November following a request by the Metropolitan Police. A 34-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of rape on November 30 at an address in Hertfordshire. He remains in custody.

A woman reported being raped inside The Groucho Club, in Dean Street, on Wednesday, 13 November and she is currently being supported by specialist officers.

In November, the Groucho Club's license has been suspended for up to 28 days. A hearing on a temporary suspension of Groucho's licence was heard behind closed doors at Westminster City Council on Tuesday, November 26.

The Met's request for a licence review could have resulted in Groucho losing its licence, however, such a move was not proposed by the police.