Thu 7th Jun 2018 - Peter Stringfellow dies after cancer battle Peter Stringfellow dies after cancer battle: Nightclub owner Peter Stringfellow has died at the age of 77 from cancer. Stringfellow, who presented at last year’s Bar and Nightclub Conference, organised by UKHospitality and Propel, died in the early hours of this morning (Thursday, 7 June) after spending time in hospital, a spokesman said. His publicist Matt Glass told the Press Association: “It’s very sad news. He passed away in the early hours of this morning. It was kept very private – he didn’t want to tell. He wanted to keep it a secret.” His eponymous London club in Covent Garden’s Upper St Martins Lane will continue to operate “as normal”, Glass said. Stringfellow started in the night-time trade in the early 1960s and recalled booking acts including The Beatles, The Kinks and Jimi Hendrix to play at his clubs. In 1980 he opened Stringfellows in Covent Garden in London’s West End and went on to create venues in Paris, New York, Miami, and Beverly Hills. The mogul said his clubs had hosted A-listers including Prince, Marvin Gaye, Rod Stewart and Tom Jones. Born in Sheffield in 1940, Stringfellow was the eldest of four boys who were brought up by the women in his family after the men went to war. He served a brief prison sentence in 1962 for selling stolen carpets, a sharp lesson that he said put him on the straight and narrow. In a 2012 article for The Guardian he attributed his entrepreneurial spirit to his “feisty” mother. Stringfellow underwent treatment for lung cancer after being diagnosed in 2008. However he kept the diagnosis a secret for nearly six years, telling only family and close friends, until it was leaked in 2015. Married three times and a grandfather four times over, Stringfellow is survived by his wife Bella and four children, Karen, Scott, Rosabella and Angelo. Deltic Group chief executive Peter Marks said on Twitter: “So sad to hear the news. A true legend and so kind and generous a spirit. I will always remember when he found time for me to offer advice when starting our first nightclub when I was just 27 and starting out in the clubs. There won’t be another like him.”