Beach hut to celebrity

Patrice de Colmont, the soul of Club 55

It is the kind of autumn day that you rarely see in Saint-Tropez. The wind rattles the doors and windows, waves crash on the shore and the only living creatures outside are the seagulls. Today, Pampelonne is not its usual self: Lonely and deserted, it is a million miles away from its summer season self, from the VIPs and wannabes bathing in champagne and keeping the paparazzi busy.

Even the legendary floor of Club 55 is quiet when we meet de Colmont. He wears jeans and a blue shirt and, in a deep, relaxed voice, he begins his story. "My parents were ethnologists from Thones, in the Haute-Savoie. They travelled the world. One day my father was working on a film about the transportion of oranges in the Mediterranean. The boats were laden with masses of fruit. When a strong mistral hit, my parents took refuge in the bay of Pampelonne. My father spent two days here and fell in love with the tucked away beach." There were still debris left behind from WWII lying around, shells and barbed wire, but that did not stop Bernard and Geneviève de Colmont from putting up their tent here for several weeks every summer. "This was the end of the world back then."
"Then my father inherited some money", continues de Colmont, "and without telling anyone he bought this piece of beach." He brought his family to the newly acquired property and told them: "This is our Holy Land." He set up a wooden shed with three rooms and the family moved in. They didn't have electricity and had to get water from the fountain on the Place des Lices, miles away in Saint-Tropez. Visitors who came to the beach were invited in and treated like friends.

That was in 1953. Two years later, when Patrice was 7 years old, a film crew arrived in Saint-Tropez, to shoot "And god created Woman" with Bardot. When director Roger Vadim turned up at Pampe-lonne in his jeep looking for a set, he bumped into the de Colmonts sitting on a long table in front of their cabin sharing a meal with friends. "He thought it was a bistro", de Colmont smiles. So Vadim looked at Madame de Colmont and said, "We will be shooting here for 3 weeks - can you cater for the crew?" She agreed, then Vadim revealed that there would be 80 of them. "We had nothing, but with a lot of help and improvisation we dealt with the situation. We even cooked the meat in the oven at the bakery in Saint-Tropez", he adds with a hint of pride.

After the sensational 50s film made her a star, Bardot ended up buying her home, ‘La Madrague’, here. The de Colmonts, meanwhile, turned their cabin into a restaurant and named it Club 55. Word spread and more and more artists, actors and celebrities came to eat there. Bernard de Colmont painted his two main credos on signs and hung them on the front door: "The cook is not the chef" and "The client is not the king".

The club’s current patron has stayed true to his father’s philosophy and now it has transformed from a beach hut to the most exclu-sive spot on the Côte d'Azur and the place in which to be seen. However, whether a billionaire superstar or Joe Bloggs - everyone is treated the same. Even the most popular guests have to wait for a table. De Colmont’s own doctrine: "No matter if it’s the King of Spain or a shop assistant from Saint-Tropez knocking at the door - everyone is welcome... the first time. After that? We'll see but as long as you behave like a friend you’re always welcome.”                        

  SS/LS