‘The 43’ was a nightclub at 43 Gerrard Street in 1920s Soho, London.

Notorious for its parties and varied clientele – it was owned and run by Kate Meyrick. During her time with ‘The 43’, she was jailed five times. The Home Secretary at the time, William Joynson-Hicks, described it as ‘a place of the most intense mischief and immortality with doped women and drunk men… if it is as bad as I am informed prosecute it with the utmost rigour of the law’.

Kate was the Irish proprietor of the 43 Club from its opening in November 1920. Open until 6am, it was popular with celebrities and royalty including Rudolf Valentino and Tallulah Bankhead, J. B. Priestly, Evelyn Waugh and various underworld figures such as Billy ‘Brilliant’ Chang. By 1930, the Club had become the Richmond Club, and then the Bunch of Keys Club. After multiple stretches in prison – Kate was eventually forbidden by law to never run nightclubs again.

Kate Meyrick died on 19Janauary 1933 from influenza aged 57.

On the day of her funeral at St Martins on the Fields, West End theatres and clubs dimmed their lights. She was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery.