A former car park in the West End has been transformed into a £14 million superclub.
Work on Press, which has a capacity of 400, has taken four years, with eight tons of granite used to adorn the tables, bar, toilets and DJ booth.
The team of investors behind the club claim they have already been approached by Jay-Z’s chain of nightclubs 40/40, but turned down the chance to sell up before their venue had even officially opened.
Visitors to the club, on Whitcomb Street, next to Leicester Square, walk in through a white marble atrium, with laser-effect lighting on the walls. A red carpet leads down the stairs and into the club.
There are two VIP areas — one for those who wish to be seen and one for those who don’t.
Both are reached by a private lift, have a discrete back exit and their own toilets.
The sound system is designed by renowned manufacturers Funktion-One, while the walls are adorned with 13, 80-inch 3D televisions. The venue will only open Thursday to Saturday from 10.30pm to 3am, although it will be available for private hire during the week.
A glass of house wine is £7, cocktails start at £18 and go up to £180, while the largest bottle of Ace Of Spades champagne will cost over £60,000.
Gazmend Prekazi, 33, is one of the partners in the business. He has worked in the entertainment industry for 16 years, starting as a kitchen porter in 1998.
He said: “We wanted to create a club like the old days, where you can come down and have a good time no matter how much money you have. We don’t want anyone to feel left out. We are trying to be a superclub on a par with the ones you’d find in St Tropez, Cannes and Ibiza. London was waiting for something like this.
“I think the reason you don’t see many clubs in new sites is that there aren’t many places left in the West End to build good clubs. All the recent openings are revamps of existing clubs.”
The club is undergoing a soft opening with an official launch planned in September.
