Maurice Huggett
Deceased Person
1945 – 2011
Who was Maurice Huggett?
Maurice Huggett was the proprietor of a private members club known as the Phoenix Artist Club in Soho, London.
The son of a builder, Huggett worked as a bank clerk before joining American Express in London's Haymarket, working for the Keith Prowse ticket agency in 1969 at The Dorchester hotel. After a period working for Pan Am, Huggett lived in pre-revolution Tehran to handle incoming tours for Air Express. According to The Daily Telegraph "one night he looked out from his room to see the streets running red. He called the BBC and gave a dramatic account. Only later did he discover the truth. The first targets of the Islamic fundamentalists were wine cellars, and the streets had been running not with blood but with red wine." He returned to London on the last flight out of Tehran, and obtained a publican’s licence. He then managed the Players' Theatre beneath the arches at Charing Cross station.
Huggett acquired the Phoenix Artist Club in the mid 1990s, located in a basement beneath the Phoenix Theatre on the Charing Cross Road. The basement was originally used as a rehearsal room and dressing room for the theatre, but had been converted into a bar and restaurant during the 1970s. Under his ownership, it acquired extensive refurbishment. The Phoenix became a hub of late night drinking and debauchery for artists, actors, comedians, producers, writers and journalists. Karaoke was banned, the jukebox abolished, and Huggett became a centrepiece of flamboyance, renowned for giving impromptu performances of showtunes. Among the Phoenix clientele were the crime novelist Martina Cole, singer Lady Gaga, comedian Noel Fielding and the actors Jude Law, Keira Knightley and John Hurt.
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