Spacey's out and about

What with the bizarre weather, Tube chaos and congestion charge, it's a wonder anyone wants to come to the capital. Especially a Hollywood star who could live anywhere in the world. But Kevin Spacey is fast becoming the most-wanted guest at the most fashionable parties and, now that he has accepted a more hands-on role at the Old Vic theatre, London is set to take the double-Oscar winner to its heart.

He is, says Sally Greene, the impresario who recruited him to the board of Old Vic trustees five years ago, "hugely charismatic. Kevin has that incredible knack of making everybody he meets feel special.î

He occasionally stays at Sally Greene's house in Chelsea and is a regular fixture at her dinner parties. His London luvvie friends include Ralph Fiennes, Sam Mendes and Kate Winslet, Rosamund Pike, Stephen Daldry and Dame Judi Dench, but his connections reach into the echelons of power. Peter Mandelson is a good friend, Tony and Cherie are big fans and they hauled him in, along with Bill Clinton, to add some Hollywood glitz to Labour's conference in Blackpool. Presumably failing to find an Ivy-calibre restaurant, Spacey settled for dinner at McDonald's instead.

Back in London, however, Spacey is au fait with celebrity dining. Although for a while he liked to pop into The House on Rosslyn Hill restaurant in Hampstead for egg and chips, he has become a regular at The Ivy, where he's been seen gossiping with Elton John. He's also been spotted at Momo, Teatro, Pharmacy and Cecconi's, where he had dinner with Bill Clinton and Prince Andrew. Last week he had dinner at Orso, in Covent Garden.

Spacey also frequents London's fashionable drinking dens. He used to visit the Met Bar and The Groucho but is now more likely to be found at the exclusive members' club, Adam Street, off the Strand, where you might see Prince William. Spacey is fast turning into London's party king. He launched his website, Triggerstreet.com, to mentor new acting and writing talent, at the Sanderson Hotel, and friends such as Jade Jagger, Helena Bonham Carter, Rufus Sewell and Geri Halliwell turned up. Regarded as charming, funny and with a talent for singing and playing the harmonica, "he works the room better than any politicianî, says one Londoner who saw him at a party recently.

Until he decides to buy a place in the capital, like Gwyneth and Madonna, Spacey favours old-style grandeur and stays at the Athenaeum in Piccadilly or the Savoy where, when he was penniless, Jack Lemmon let him sleep on his floor.

He is said to check in under the name Bobby D, perhaps a reference to his upcoming film in which he plays one of his idols, the 1950s Hollywood crooner Bobby Darin.

Spacey is too intellectual to spend much time shopping, but he has been known to pop into Armand Basi on Conduit Street, Giorgio Armani on Bond Street and Favourbrook tailors in Piccadilly. He's also an animal lover and has adopted a Jack Russell called Mini from Battersea Dogs home.

Who needs Madonna when London has a new American Anglophile to champion its cool?