10 minutes with Hugh Hefner

'You'd make a perfect bunny,' says Hugh Hefner with a throaty chuckle, and I don't know whether to be flattered or deeply offended as he throws open the doors to London's new Playboy Club.

The original London Playboy Club was a favourite after-hours haunt for stars from Jack Nicholson to Frank Sinatra, but in 1981 the gambling licence was revoked and its doors closed. Thirty years on, Hefner feels it's the perfect time for a relaunch, though the 100 women brandishing 'Eff off Heff' posters on Old Park Lane, declaiming that the Playboy brand exploits women, would disagree. He is unfazed by the furore, but then he is used to criticism for his unorthodox lifestyle - at one point he lived with seven girlfriends under one roof. 'What people have to say really doesn't make any sense.Playboy has changed the world. We live in a more liberated, sexually free world because of it.' But isn't the Bunny costume somewhat outdated? 'The reality is that the Bunny itself and the Playboy Club represent a certain timeframe, the 60s and 70s, that looks rather delightful now; it has an iconic and a retro quality. It's like The Beatles and Bond films.'

What is your response to those who claim that you exploit women?
How foolish. Clearly in the pages of Playboy women's sexuality is celebrated. The only ones who don't think so are the ones who have problems with their own sexuality.
How do you handle all the criticism?
I view my life and the magazine as a Rorschach test; criticisms are a projection of other people's fantasies and prejudices. They tell you about the person who has those opinions, but nothing about me.
What makes your relationship with Crystal work?
A good relationship is one in which everything you're doing is sweeter because you're sharing it with someone you love. We enjoy one another's company, laugh all the time, and we're both movie buffs.
I hear you're trying out monogamy again?
I don't think it's the natural thing, but I think it's the right thing under certain circumstances. I have lived both ways and, quite frankly, I preferred the non- monogamous days.
Are there any sexual boundaries yet to be broken?
The problem is we've defined what is moral by a set of thou shalt nots that weren't good for people. The notion of whether sex is wrong outside of marriage is foolish; sex is not just for procreation - sex is about love, it's about the way you treat people, that's what we need to remember.