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Prince of darkness; Afer nightfall, Matt Hermer rules London - Harry and Wills dance to his tune and the New Tories tuck in at his table. Lydia Slater meets the Boujis man.

Article Excerpt
Byline: Lydia Slater

I make certain assumptions about Matt Hermer before we meet. After all, he's a self-made millionaire, owner of an absurdly successful nightclub and several bars, and parties with princes. So when I arrive at the South Kensington branch of Bumpkin, the restaurant chain he also owns, I'm scanning the place for a posh Peter Stringfellow, dripping with blondes. I completely overlook the slight, darkhaired chap in sensible jeans and a navy blue V-neck hovering at my elbow until he actually shakes hands with me.

The founder and MD of Ignite Group, Matt, 38, has a sensitive, intelligent face and the thoughtful air of a writer or barrister. His portfolio includes the Eclipse cocktail bars, Cocoon, the pan-Asian restaurant overlooking Regent Street, and two Bumpkin restaurants, purveying 'country food for city folk', albeit the sort of city folk who have country houses anyway. The jewel in his crown, though, is unquestionably Boujis, the South Kensington nightclub where Princes William and Harry seem to have taken out squatters' rights.

Boujis' success seems even to bemuse its creator. It turns seven this month, which in nightclub terms makes it almost geriatric, and as Matt freely concedes, it lacks the glitz and theatre considered essential for West End clubs. 'It would be wrong to say it was the most glamorous venue in London,' he laughs. The dancefloor is titchy, the decor unpretentious, and where the clipboard Nazis at West End clubs sneer at last season's labels, Hermer merely draws the line at flip-flops. But this, he thinks, may be the key to its success - its very lack of self-conscious cool (that and the Crack Baby cocktails: vodka, passion fruit, Chambord raspberry liqueur and champagne). 'It's the new Annabel's,...

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