3 June 2011Last updated at 13:36

In pictures: London's original Playboy club

Playing roulette at London's Playboy Club on Park Lane, Central London in 1967

A new Playboy Club is to open in London this weekend, three decades after the last one closed. The club's history in London dates back to the swinging 60s and the legalisation of gambling in the UK after World War II. The club on Park Lane, opened in 1966, was the first Playboy Club in Europe.

Five bunny girls at London airport, April 1966

English girls were flown to America to train as Playboy bunnies - waitresses and croupiers - in preparation for the London opening.

Hugh Hefner with London's Playboy bunnies in 1969

It is believed that Hugh Hefner, the publisher of Playboy, was inspired to open drinking and gambling clubs with women dressed in velvet, after he visited the chain of Gaslight Clubs in Chicago.

Frank Sinatra at London's Playboy Club in 1966

London's Playboy club soon became a regular haunt for the rich and famous including, above, Frank Sinatra.

French actor, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Bond girl Ursula Andress and American actor James Garner enjoying a bite to eat at the London Playboy club.

Kenneth Tynan at the London Playboy club

The presence of influential critic and writer, Kenneth Tynan, shows that intellectuals also made themselves at home in the club.

As well as eating, drinking and gambling, there was also live entertainment on offer at the Playboy club.

In 1972, some of the Bunny Girl waitresses at the London Playboy Club recorded an album as the 'Singing Bunnies'.

Bunny girls form a picket line at their club on Park Lane

However, it was not all singing and dancing. In 1974, Bunny girls at the club went on strike because they wanted management to recognise them as members of the Transport and General Workers' Union.

The London Playboy club closed in 1981 after its gambling licence was not renewed.

The Playboy Club will return to London on Saturday, 30 years after the original closed. New croupier bunnies all received intensive training over 11 weeks and the bunny outfits, specially fitted for each girl, were given a modern twist by the Marchesa fashion house.

London

In pictures: London's original Playboy club

Share this page

Related Stories

Services

About BBC News