Mystery Spender's £36,000 Bar Bill
Kensington, London (UK):
The minute he walked in the joint, they could tell he was a real big spender. Good looking, so refined, and with an exclusive black American Express card.
By the time he left the Aviva bar in the five-star Baglioni Hotel in Kensington, West London, on Thursday night, he had spent nearly £36,000. He bought 851 cocktails, emptied the place of Louis Roederer Cristal champagne and gave a waitress a £3,000 tip.
They still do not know who he was. He said that he was a hedge fund manager from New York who had been paid an insane bonus after clinching a £3 million deal in London. Staff at the newly opened bar are still reeling at the customer’s generosity.
His spending spree may have been triggered by seeing Jasmine Lennard, the actress and star of the film Revolver, who was in the bar with a male friend and who was plied with champagne, as was everyone else. “I was very flattered,” Lennard said. “Even though the guy was very sweet, it was not quite enough to make me leave my boyfriend.”
Onlookers said that the mystery benefactor, who arrived with about ten male companions, was pleasant and well behaved. He spent £16,500 on champagne and £6,000 on a variety of cocktails. His 12.5 per cent service charge alone came to £4,684, giving him a final bill of £35,906.
Oct 01, 2005
Alan Hamilton, Times Online, UK
Kensington, London (UK):
The minute he walked in the joint, they could tell he was a real big spender. Good looking, so refined, and with an exclusive black American Express card.
By the time he left the Aviva bar in the five-star Baglioni Hotel in Kensington, West London, on Thursday night, he had spent nearly £36,000. He bought 851 cocktails, emptied the place of Louis Roederer Cristal champagne and gave a waitress a £3,000 tip.
They still do not know who he was. He said that he was a hedge fund manager from New York who had been paid an insane bonus after clinching a £3 million deal in London. Staff at the newly opened bar are still reeling at the customer’s generosity.
His spending spree may have been triggered by seeing Jasmine Lennard, the actress and star of the film Revolver, who was in the bar with a male friend and who was plied with champagne, as was everyone else. “I was very flattered,” Lennard said. “Even though the guy was very sweet, it was not quite enough to make me leave my boyfriend.”
Onlookers said that the mystery benefactor, who arrived with about ten male companions, was pleasant and well behaved. He spent £16,500 on champagne and £6,000 on a variety of cocktails. His 12.5 per cent service charge alone came to £4,684, giving him a final bill of £35,906.
Oct 01, 2005
Alan Hamilton, Times Online, UK
