Damien Hirst - who has gone from the enfant terrible of the art world (yes, the shark in formaldehyde; yes, the diamond-encrusted skull) to its grandee - it was an excuse to fulfil his dream of finally having his own gallery.
"I've always wanted a gallery like Saatchi," Hirst says, "the original Boundary Road."
"Damien was just really inspired by that," says Jenny Craig of Milltown Partners, consultants on the project. "It opened in the late-Eighties, when Damien was a student, and that was a free gallery with a long run. He really loved the fact you could go back and get to know the artwork."
It will also be a throwback. Despite the Notting Hill original ending in less than success, the middle floor will see his Pharmacy restaurant return, open 10am-midnight, with 60 covers (it has the same entrance; a door will swing across to close the gallery at night), complete with curated medical paraphernalia on the walls and even below the glass bar (though GQ is assured there will be place mats, lest people be put off by the gauze). The chef will not be a big name. Hirst: "All chefs are c***s."
The café-restaurant will be the only real money-maker for Hirst (entrance to the gallery is free) save the gift shop. But will you exit through it? No, of course not. In fact, you must leave the gallery and access the gift shop through a separate entrance. "I think," says Craig, laughing, "he really took Banksy's film to heart on that one." He really has changed.
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