Celebrities never have to pay to enter a nightclub. They’re VIPs and they expect to be welcomed for free. But when I opened Nell’s in New York, the entrance fee was $5 . . . no exceptions.
Even back then in 1986, five bucks wasn’t exactly a fortune. Mick Jagger, Bob Dylan, Sting and Andy Warhol took my eccentric policy in good humour and paid up. But was incensed. She demanded I let her in for free and, when I refused, she called me a ‘f***ing b*****d’ and left in a huff.







