Brian's tale of two cities

MOVER AND SHAKERS: Brian Crawford, manager of the Dome in George Street, Edinburgh, in front of the bar-restaurant’s cabinet full of cocktail shakers. Picture: SEAN BELL

CELEBRITY has become a way of life for Brian Crawford. Whether he’s rubbing shoulders with Shirley Bassey, Rod Stewart and Michael Caine, chatting with Elton John over a glass of bubbly or arranging dinner for Cilla Black.

But it takes something - or in his case somebody - extraordinary to prevent him from scuttling back to Edinburgh come the weekend. For Sunday lunch with his mother, Dora, at her North Berwick home, is sacrosanct.

Sitting down to a succulent roast, Yorkshire pudding and veg with mum is a bizarre contrast to the rest of Brian’s week, with its hectic schedule, A-list celebrities and the bright lights of London. But that’s just the way Brian likes it.

In fact, his working schedule would leave many less energetic individuals quaking. Three days a week see him wearing his hat as manager of London’s best known exclusive nightclub, Tramp, a favourite hang-out for some of the biggest names in British entertainment.

And the other three days he’s closer to home, keeping a watchful eye over the busy George Street bar-restaurant, the Dome.

It’s an astonishing yo-yo life, spent hopping on and off the London shuttle from Edinburgh Airport which invariably sees him spending Saturday night mingling with the rich and famous at Tramp and Sunday morning dashing north for a quick workout in his private gym before heading to mum Dora’s house for lunch.

But, laughs Brian, he wouldn’t have it any other way.

"Yes, it can be exhausting - I’m generally up at 5am for a gym workout and the nature of the job means it’s usually a late night. But I do get to mix with some very well known people. On Wednesday night, for example, I was with Elton John, his partner David Furnish and Liz Hurley - Elton and I go back a long way."

So just how do you go about getting a job like that? Brian was trained at the Royal Garden Hotel in Kensington and managed Acanthus on Waverley Bridge before he arrived at the ornate Dome not long after it opened. This month it’s celebrating its sixth anniversary in the building which had formerly been one of the Royal Bank’s head offices.

It was Crawford’s efficiency and sky high standards which made his job a game of two halves.

So when friend-to-the-stars-and-royals Johnny Gold decided to sell his London nightclub Tramp - launched 30 years earlier with backing from a certain Richard Burton and Liz Taylor - to the man behind the Dome, Kevin Doyle, it was only natural that Brian’s role would expand to include the exclusive Jermyn Street club.

Brian was appointed a director of the London group - Coney Island Ltd - responsible for Tramp, and a director of Doyle’s Caledonian Heritable Ltd, based in Edinburgh’s west end.

Brian, who admits to being in his 40s, smiles: "I’m fortunate that I’m working in contrasting atmospheres, living at a contrasting pace, all the time. I’m never bored. I never know who I’m going to meet, especially in London.

"The buzz down there is a different, and probably a bit louder, than I get on George Street.

"Not that the Dome is ever dull. But Tramp has always been a magnet for the glitterati - and the paparazzi, who have to hang about outside on the street.

"They’ve never been allowed in. What goes on there between the tightly controlled membership is private.

"A lot of our members, who originally ranged from Mick Jagger to Princess Margaret, go there safe in the knowledge that they’ll be photographed coming out. We certainly never divulge to the media the comings and goings of our international clientele.

"Michael Caine, a member, once said that the trick that worked with Tramp over 30 years was that it was a 50s nightclub they just cleaned up, they didn’t redecorate and try to make it modern or trendy. They just left it as it was."

Kevin Doyle spent 3.5million refurbishing Tramp, keeping it strictly membership only.

This week it was business as usual, with aristocracy and film stars among the clubbers.

When he is in London Crawford stays in the prestigous Blakes, a hotel owned by Anouska Hempel ("she gives me a good rate") and he readily admits he has transferred a lot of her ideas to Tramp and the Dome.

He reckons that his eye for detail is crucial in his job, something he imparts to his staff, for whom crisp black and white is the working dress code at the Dome.

"It’s all too easy for me to drop names. Before we took over from Johnny Gold, Princess Di would patronise Tramp, Andrew and Fergie still come in together, as does Omar Sharif. Danni Minogue was in the other evening, and Rula Lenska.

"But I wear a different hat when I’m in Edinburgh, although I do try to bring a touch of Tramp here."

With all that to-ing and fro-ing, it’s little wonder Brian takes two month’s holiday every year - jetting off to his own home in Palm Beach, Florida.

Yet he’s never happier than on a Sunday, working out in his home gym and then heading to mum Dora’s house for a leisurely lunch.

"It’s usually a nice roast, Yorkshire pud and veg," he smiles, "and I love it. After eating all week in restaurants, you really appreciate some home cooking.

"We still keep up standards - it’s not dinner on your lap in front of Songs of Praise by any means, it’s a proper sit-down meal. But it is a chance to relax and catch up.

"For me it’s the ideal therapy."