Where the players go to score

Emily Sheffield @emilysheffield|Tom Barber

10 April 2012

You're a London footballer. You earn more in a fortnight than a teacher gets in a year. You're going to need a second career in 10 years' time when your legs give out. Get on the "A" list and become more famous off-pitch than on, and you're set up for life. (Not many people know that Vinnie Jones used to get his knees muddy for a living.)

So where do you go?

The days of lager-fuelled booze-ups at Hollywood's or the Epping Forest Country Club in Essex, and Chicago's in Sutton are over. Now you'll find the footie boys in W1, sipping champagne and sporting a Prada suit. It's dinner at the Mirabelle, not McDonald's, followed by cocktails at the St Martins Lane hotel.

"They want to eat and drink where all the other celebs go," says Tony Finnigan, who runs the football management company Wright Wright Wright with - you guessed it - Ian Wright. "They've got big egos these guys and they want to be on the front page of The Sun in a nice suit leaving a trendy party."

Football might be more sophisticated these days but we're still a few years off from the lads popping out for a night at the Royal Opera House.

"Instead," says one club promoter, "they go to the regular football haunts like Sugar Reef, Cafe Royal and The Spot, where they'll find girls who are impressed by footballers." So if you want to score with your Premiership heroes - or avoid them - follow our Guide to Footballers' London.

Sugar Reef, 41 Great Windmill Street
The "in" bar for footballers at the moment. Regulars include Chelsea's Dennis Wise, famously naughty Nigerian star Celestine Babayaro and Rio Ferdinand, a good-looking Londoner now exiled to Leeds (more on him later). On Saturday night you'll usually find them in the members-only Marx bar. According to owner Mark Fuller: "When David and Victoria Beckham come here, Victoria likes a certain table upstairs, overlooking the waterfall. They like it to be ringed off and security keep an eye on them so they can relax."

Red Cube Bar and Grill, 1 Leicester Place
Put a plaque up here - Man United's Dwight Yorke first spotted and fell for glamour model Jordan at Red Cube. Oh, the romance! After a few drinks they shared an intimate dinner (burger, fries and shake) in McDonald's in Leicester Square. Glamorous or what? You can measure just how posh this place is by the fact that Victoria Beckham's sister Louise manages to get in here with her David-lookalike boyfriend, Noel Imber, a goalkeeper who earns £130 a week with non-league Borehamwood.

The Emporium, 62 Kingly Street
This is where you find out whether Premier League footwork extends beyond nifty ball control. The music is R&B and Garage and the decor "Romanesque". Players keep to the VIP area overlooking the dance floor with a doorman keeping out the female fans, or at least the ones who aren't deemed fit enough. West Ham's Frank Sinclair, Chelsea's Jody Morris, a notorious party animal, and Londoners-gone-to-Leeds Rio Ferdinand and Michael Duberry are all regulars.

Attica, 24 Kingly Street
Several Chelsea players were spotted in here a few weeks ago. Plus Rio Ferdinand (snore), and Chelsea's French god Marcel Desailly and Villa's David Ginola (the one with the Seventies hair) at Donatella Versace's perfume launch. Ginola spent more time looking in the mirror than at the models.

Caf? de Paris, 3 Coventry Street
A regular haunt for Arsenal players Thierry Henry and Kanu (who according to one witness, resembles "a giraffe with bad dress sense"). You'll also bump into Marcel Desailly, Steffen Iversen from Spurs, Trevor Sinclair from West Ham and Dwight Yorke. Players book a table in the VIP section, where the minimum spend is £500 - less than an hour's wages for Yorke.

Kabaret, 16-18 Beak Street and Rock, Victoria Embankment, WC2
Harry Becher, Piers Adam's right-hand man, says: "We get a lot of the Tottenham boys because Piers is a fanatical supporter, and they all come down - I've seen Sol Campbell, Les Ferdinand (Rio's cousin) and Ian Walker. Also Arsenal's David Seaman, Dwight Yorke and, of course, Vinnie Jones, who was in Rock for the Snatch premiere party." It should be noted that some football supporters would see that list as six good reasons not to go to Kabaret.

Caf? Royal, 68 Regent Street
Arsenal have a long association with the Caf? Royal - in the 1930s, Clive Carr, an Arsenal director, was responsible for revamping Regent Street, including the famous nightclub. On Friday nights Arsenal treat visiting team managers and directors to dinner, while on Saturday the visiting players are taken for Bacardi Breezers and vodka cocktails in the members-only 10 Room. Expect to find David Beckham, Les Ferdinand, Liverpool's Jamie Redknapp, United's Teddy Sheringham, David Ginola and Stan Collymore.

Met Bar, 19 Old Park Lane
According to Tony Finnigan, the Metropolitan is still the footballers' hotel of choice. "They want to go where all the other stars are staying, to mix with their own."

Mirabelle, 56 Curzon Street
Agents squeeze their players into Marco Pierre White's restaurants - the person you have to know is Linda Shaw at the White Star Line restaurant. "The Mirabelle is the most popular," says Shaw, "but sometimes they go to Titanic and Quo Vadis."

Dover Street Wine Bar, 8-9 Dover Street
Vinnie Jones described this bar as the sexiest place in London. Larry Price, the owner, says that Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole pop in, as well as Southampton's Kevin Davies and manager Glenn Hoddle. "Footballers don't drink much," he says, "maybe the odd glass of champagne - but mainly mineral water." How times have changed. In George Graham's day the bar was the hard-drinking den for the Arsenal team - including self-confessed alcoholic Tony Adams.

Spearmint Rhino, 161 Tottenham Court Road
Stringfellow's is facing stiff competition from this American lap-dancing import. Manager Phil Whitehouse refused to name names but claims that lots of Premier League players visit: "They're the only ones who can afford it." Two weeks ago, the (decidedly unhip) Queen's Park Rangers team was there: if they get relegated, their wages might not cover a second visit.

Papa Gaio, 61 Poland Street
Among the alumni are Frank Sinclair, Rio Ferdinand, David Ginola and Stan Collymore. "They drink cocktails and champagne," says one insider. "They spend £300 to £500 and tend to keep to themselves, unless they are chatting up a pretty girl."

Mash, 26 Albemarle Street
Posh and Becks's favourite lunch spot when shopping in Bond Street. Which is often.

SW1

The Halkin, 5 Halkin Street
Only Stan Collymore had the taste to book in to this refined hotel when commuting from Oviedo, his last team, in north-western Spain. But as he's just retired from the beautiful game, expect Stan the Man back within days, not weeks.

57 Jermyn Street
Celestine Babayaro, Thierry Henry, and Les and Rio Ferdinand go here on Tuesdays. Here's a theory - maybe Rio left West Ham for Leeds because he'd run out of night-spots in London.

WC2

The Spot, Covent Garden
The hangout for players, whether they're in the Premiership or the Beazer Homes League. Manager David Blackwood is a big Tottenham supporter but still lets ex-Arsenal man Nicolas Anelka DJ there. Every Saturday night they have the Players' Lounge, a VIP bar for footballers. Marketing manager Dave Howell moves the club to Ayia Napa in Cyprus every summer where, he says, "the footballers really let their hair down". According to Howell, their favourite drink is a Chambull - Louis Cristalle champagne mixed with Red Bull. Nice.

Brown's, 4 Great Queen Street
David Beckham did three Saturday nights in a row in Brown's last year. After a short time in the relegation zone, Brown's looks set to be a table-topping footballers' hang-out again.

The Ivy, 1 West Street
Beckham pops in for the odd celebrity do, "but only 'cos his missus takes him there", according to one agent.

St Martins Lane, 45 St Martins Lane
Visiting players will frequently book into the hotel (if the Met is full). The Beckhams went to the launch party while London players, such as West Ham's Frank Lampard, go on Saturday night for cocktails in the Light Bar.

L'Estaminet, 14 Garrick Street
Chelsea's grand epicurean, Frank Leboeuf, satisfies his nostalgia for home-cooking.

SW10

Friends, 6 Hollywood Road

Roberto Di Matteo part-owns this Italian restaurant and team-mates Graeme Le Saux (an Englishman, strangely enough), Dennis Wise and Gianfranco Zola frequent. A fanatical Chelsea fan described having spaghetti thrown at him by Zola's young children as "the proudest moment of my life". Zola also spends his days off from training down at the Chiswick Golf Driving Range.

Ghillies, 271 New King's Road

Urchin and scourge of cabbies Dennis Wise has - somewhat incongruously - been spotted in this super-Sloaney Parson's Green eatery.

SW3

Scalini's, 3 Walton Street

The numero uno Italian restaurant for footballers - West Ham's Davor Suker is a regular, Jamie Redknapp takes Harry (his old man and Hammers boss) there, Chelsea provide Albert Ferrer and Frank Leboeuf, and Arsenal's French stars, Patrick Vieira and Robert Pires, popped in a few weeks ago.

San Lorenzo, 22 Beauchamp Place

A top spot for all of the Chelsea team, and former manager Gianluca Vialli has a dish - Penne alla Vialli - named after him.

Notting Hill

Subterania, 12 Acklam Road

Les Ferdinand (what is it about the Ferdinand clan?).

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