Johnson is saviour of Damien Hirst’s club

It looks like the Boris Johnson's intervention in the battle to save the Colony Room Club, the Soho drinking hole favoured by Damien Hirst (pictured) and the YBAs (Young British artists), has done the trick. As reported here, the club's secretary and sometime barman Michael Wojas decided in March he wanted to close down the club, against the vociferous wishes of the members.

All seemed lost until the London mayor charged in with a letter to the president of English Heritage, Simon Thurley, demanding that the 60-year-old club be preserved because it was a "unique and important place for the capital both in terms of cultural and architectural significance".

Johnson's support then prompted the Save the Colony Room Club campaign to go legal. They have just obtained an order from the High Court hat authorises the calling of an AGM, which they intend using to oust Wojas and the present committe and so enter into discussions with the landlord.

"The members see this as a great victory," says Michael Beckett, the campaign's lawyer. "Michael Wojas has been refusing to call an AGM for six months. It gives us the chance to elect a new chairman and treasurer and look to sort out the club's future."

The AGM is to be held on December 11. Wisely this is two days after the Carpe Noctum Ball, the campaign' s giant fundraising bash, which will be attended by Soho luminaries Sebastian Horsley, Hamish McAlpine and the soul singer Lisa Stansfied.