Brian Crawford

Flamboyant manager of London’s Tramp nightclub who kept company with Shirley Bassey, Cilla Black and Michael Caine
 
 

Having to deal with an Arab potentate who wanted to slaughter a lamb on the dancefloor was not maybe all in a night’s work for Brian Crawford. Yet as the general manager of Tramp, the London nightclub, for the past 15 years, his reserves of savoir-faire were such that he was able to accommodate most of the demands made by an increasingly cosmopolitan clientele.

Not that Crawford was a shrinking violet. He could be extrovert to the point of flamboyance and quite capable of making his views plain. On this occasion, Crawford stood firm and the animal was eventually dispatched outside, on Jermyn Street. It was later cooked in the club’s kitchen, to the satisfaction of all concerned.

Tramp was founded in 1969 as an