Private club once favoured by Prince Harry 'broken into and trashed by illegal ravers'

Ben McCaffrey
Wed, 15 Apr 2026 13:59:04 +0000

A private club frequented by British royals has been trashed by squatters.

An estimated 20 people broke into Raffles in Chelsea over the weekend, a previous favourite of Prince Harry.

Some 11 people were arrested at the scene, who are alleged to have caused at least £25,000 in estimated damages.

Hundreds more partygoers were expected to arrive before police intervened.

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Squatters are believed to have first broken into The March Hare pub over the road, before making their way to Raffles.

Along with his younger brother, Prince William and wife, Catherine, Princess of Wales, are said to have enjoyed a night out at the infamous club before they married in 2011.

A-list celebrities such as Eddie Redmayne and Usain Bolt have also been known to frequent the bar, while Made in Chelsea star Jamie Laing has also been spotted at the establishment.

Richard Wynne, owner of The March Hare, claimed up to £10,000 of alcohol was stolen in the raid, along with the sound system.

"As the police were cuffing people, other partygoers started turning up with invites on text messages and WhatsApp and Instagram messages," Mr Wynne told The Sun.

He was alerted to the break-in by builders on the site on Sunday morning.

The bar had been closed for the past year while undergoing a refurbishment project.

Posting on Instagram, the establishment confirmed: "Our newly refurbished, small independent business, along with another, was broken into in the late hours of Saturday night/ early hours of Sunday morning.

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"We would like to thank the police from multiple boroughs for coming to help us.

"There has been a lot of damage, theft and vandalism that has unfortunately delayed our opening for our friends and family evening on Monday.

"We are not going to let this put a dampener on our press night on Tuesday, or our Grand Opening night on Wednesday - and we hope we can put this behind us and celebrate in the best way."

Meanwhile, Raffles director and licensee Hamish Ross, 39, said: "It’s the second time since we closed in January last year that we’ve had people break in, it already happened in November.

"The police inspector who came down said we were lucky we got down there so quickly, because it could easily have got into the hundreds of people."

He added: "There are a lot of closed business premises at the moment because of all the pressure hospitality is under.

"That leads to people hanging around and looking for opportunities. It seems to be organised. These are people that know what they are doing."

A Met Police spokeswoman confirmed: "Eleven people — seven men and four women — were arrested on Sunday, April 12, following reports of a break-in at a disused nightclub in King’s Road, Chelsea.

"It was reported that alcohol and food were stolen and consumed from the premises.

"All 11 people were interviewed by officers and bailed pending further inquiries."