MAYFAIR

THE MOOSE

venues, march 2007, COMMENTS

Vince Power has begun his year by launching an off-kilter venue called The Moose, situated opposite a Selfridges outlet in a small lane off Oxford Road. Occupying a prime location on Duke Street, twenty yards from one of London’s busiest shopping circuits, The Moose has been serving food and drink to commerce-weary shoppers and a stylish preclub clientele since its opening in January.

The last 12 months has seen Power’s return to music following his departure from Mean Fiddler in 1995. His expanding body of London venues include La Pigalle and the Bloomsbury Ballrooms, two performance venues (the former also a supper club) with upmarket period designs, a nightclub (Camouflage) and a quirky bar, At Proud, a Camden collaboration between Power and gallery owner Alex Proud.

Like At Proud, the Moose avoids design clichés in favour of a garish and playful interior. As its name suggests, the Moose has been themed around a rustic hunting lodge, with rough timber walls interspersed with bold murals of Nordic landscapes. Cow-hide upholstered seating, bright yellow wooden tables and chandeliers modelled on deer antlers complete the ground floor space. In the downstairs area the walls are covered with a darker oak timber giving the space a more intimate and club feel.

The venue has been in Power’s porfolio for a while as The Camel, but signs of age and competition from the many local eateries for trade prompted the refit. The option to sell was mooted, but Power, as on so many occasions under Mean Fiddler (especially the Jazz Café in Camden), refused to let go of the venue.

“I never liked to let go of venues, and with Mean Fiddler I stubbornly refused to sell anything, even the loss makers. In this instance I’m holding on to the Moose because it had a late licence and in Westminster a late licence is not easy to come by. Plus, it’s a nice little space and in a good area. Still, I’m less stubborn than I used to be – and I find that everything is for sale. So if anyone wants to make a serious offer for it, I’m listening.”

The venue is no patch up job, however. Serious thought has been put into the sense of escape on offer at Moose. Clarkson has worked hard to deliver a highly stylised interior that is both tongue-in-cheek and of quality. Plasma screens display enourmous log fires all night, the kitsch tartan wallpaper is richly textured, and the timber is stylistically irregular.

The food offer is suitably quirky, and consists of a selection of different pies - including the ‘Minty Lamb’ or the ‘Heidi’, the latter consisting of goat’s cheese, sweet potato, spinach, red onion and roasted garlic. A simple and well-priced wine and champagne sits alongside a comprehensive cocktail list. Drinkers can choose from classics such as French Martini, Bramble or Whisky Sour or contemporary cocktails including an Amaretto Sour or Espresso Martini.

Even the technology at the venue adds to the perverse illusion of a country retreat (this is Oxford Street, after all). The looped graphics of a roaring log fire is played out through four 16” and two 42” Panasonic plasma screens, while the hanging chandeliers are made from imitation antlers. Most of the lighting is soft and ambient - unseen spots give definition to the bulkheads in the roof, while others provide a halo effect to the venue’s many Alpine murals, which themselves have been printed on Dimond Aluminium panels.

A suitably modest installation from Encore Pro Audio Ltd provides sound to the venue. The d&b Audiotechnik speakers include two E18 subwoofers and two d&b Max speakers powered through a d&b amplifier. These are supported by two HK12 and four Bose Panaray LT 4402 mid/high speakers.

The Moose kick starts another busy year for Power, whose calendar of events includes another festival at Bennicassim (Spain) and a ball in support of the Prince’s Trust charity at Barclay’s Square in the Autumn. Entering its thirteenth year, Power is focussing heavily on development of the Festival Internacional de Bennicasim. With the likes of Muse and Arctic Monkeys confirmed for this year’s event, Power is hungry for another site in Bilbao to partner Bennicassim, just as he once doubled Leeds with Reading festivals under Mean Fiddler.

In the mean time, a new London project will see Vince partner with Gaydar.com for another venue collaboration. The new bar, opening in March, is 6 Degrees, opening in West Soho, and will be a multimedia experience with internet points, live broadcasts on the Gaydar radio station, and a sound studio. Like the Camden bar At Proud, the project will see Vince lending his operational experience to an established brand.

“I’m looking forward to the Gaydar project,” says Vince. “It’s one of the biggest websites in Europe and has a massive membership, so the commercial opportunity is clear. I’ve had involvement with the G.A.Y brand since I sold Mean Fiddler two years ago, so know the gay scene well.”

60 years old this year, there is no sense of Vince Power slowing down his operation, or taking time off to enjoy his hobbies – which he lists as taking his children to Arsenal games, tooling around London in his 1970s Buick Skylark, or watching the races at his own course in Tramore, Co. Waterford. Despite his own claims that he is enjoying a quieter life, the Moose – and his plans to expand Benicassim - suggests that he has not lost the tenacity or passion with which he ran the Mean Fiddler empire.

Words: Leo Batchelor

Images: Jim Ellam

From: March 2007 Issue

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