Thirties and beyond: four names the door calls when you say you choose
FOUR NAMES, AGED 30 TO 32. The smallest band in the house, resting like the other two on documents checked face to face, and reading best as a description of manner. Composed, certain, quite specific about what makes an evening worth having, and entirely relaxed about saying so out loud.
These are the four the host suggests when a guest says you choose, because none of them needs a plan handed to her. An hour at £250 is perfectly possible, but each is better with three, and two of them would happily take the whole night at £1,800.
Thirties and beyond, tonight
Everyone listed under thirties and beyond, taken from her file rather than a guess. Open a card for rates and a message with her name.
Given a free evening, Sonya shortens it
Sonya, 162 cm and hazel eyed, keeps the tidiest window on the list, five until ten, and does not stray outside it for anybody. Handed an unplanned evening she books the stained glass dining room at the calm end of Dean Street for six, before the room fills, and lets the pace fall from there. Ballet shaped how she moves; a shelf of rare fragrances and a daily meditation habit explain most of the rest. Three hours at £700 suits her, or four at £900.
Given a free evening, Margo furnishes it
Margo, 166 cm, will have chosen the champagne bar inside the old townhouse rooms on Romilly Street, the chair facing the door, and something dry in the glass before you have finished asking. She plays piano standards late and looks at contemporary art slowly, one room at a time. Ten minutes in you notice every question about her has been turned back into a better one about you. Her page shows when the diary next opens.
Given a free evening, Nancy moves it outdoors
Nancy, 170 cm and golden blonde, is the easygoing one: a morning swimmer, a driver of long distances for no particular reason, loyal to a counter with a grill behind it. She will put you on Charlotte Street for dinner and then walk you back through the West End the long way because the evening is pleasant and there is no reason to hurry. Three hours at £700 covers it, and weekend dates are best settled by the Wednesday.
Given a free evening, Violetta makes it loud
Violetta, 178 cm, will let a silence run its full length and then break it with something very dry. Her choice is the comedy cellar off Piccadilly Circus, seats back from the stage, then a late table where the kitchen is still awake. She swims every morning, hunts bookshops for hours and maintains a firm ranking of this year's comedians that she is happy to defend over dinner.
Booking at this pace
Tell the host a little about the shape rather than only the hour: what sort of evening, how long, and whether it might overrun. Margo and Violetta are usually held a few days out. Sonya's early window and Nancy's weekend dates are the two to ask for first, because they are the two that go. Three hours is £700, four £900, a full night £1,800 held with half in advance and the travel portion of that half non refundable.
What this band is reliably good at is the first ten minutes, which is the part most guests actually worry about. No brittle brightness, no interview, just a calm hello and a conversation that starts somewhere sensible and stays there.
What the years add
Familiarity with the parish, mostly. Each of the four has sat in enough rooms across Soho to know which corner to ask for and which to refuse, and has been to enough dinners to spot the moment an evening should either end or change direction. Nobody is hurrying towards the next thing, which is why the conversation goes further. An overnight after last orders shows the manner at its best, ten hours from the last bar through to breakfast.
Other cards
These four scatter across the figure cards rather than clustering: one on curvaceous, two on slim and slender, one on statuesque and one on both petite and toned and athletic. For comparison, the late twenties band runs to fourteen names and the one below it to ten. Choose a date, then message the door.
Thirties and beyond on the list
Choose a name above or ask the host who is free tonight.