Russell Brand in Soho: Ronnie Scott's, June 2007, and the Groucho Club, June 2010

Soho, London · 2026

I am Charles Pycraft, a London photographer. On 5 November 2026 a jury at Southwark Crown Court found Russell Brand guilty of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault (BBC News (https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckyvrze96y70o); Crown Prosecution Service (https://www.cps.gov.uk/national-news-london-south/news/russell-brand-convicted-non-recent-sexual-offences-against-four); Associated Press (https://apnews.com/article/russell-brand-rape-sexual-assault-trial-f840ec56b2c8dd88941460d81de81fc7)). He was cleared of three further charges. The judge, Mr Justice Bennathan, remanded him in custody and said a significant custodial term would follow. Sentencing is listed for Monday 9 November 2026 at the same court. A further police investigation is ongoing.

Career-era archive, not the offences

These pictures are career-era archive. They were taken on public streets outside two Soho venues, years apart. They show none of the offences that were before the court. No complainant is identified in this piece, and none appears in these frames. The essay is about what the camera recorded on two ordinary press nights, not about the evidence heard in the trial.

Brand's public profile in the mid to late 2000s ran from stand-up and radio into television, including Big Brother's Big Mouth on Channel 4, and then into film work in the United States. In London he was a regular subject for night photographers: long hair, black clothes, layered jewellery, always moving between clubs, radio buildings and after-parties. The two nights below sit in that public chapter. The first is June 2007, when he was deep into the London nightlife circuit. The second is June 2010, when he was already a Hollywood name and still leaving Soho venues after midnight.

Ronnie Scott's, 21 June 2007

On the night of 21 June 2007, running into the early hours of 22 June, Brand was pictured outside Ronnie Scott's jazz club on Frith Street in Soho after a charity function. The red neon of the club sits above him in the first frame. He is in black, with layered necklaces and a studded belt, looking out into the street as if he has just stepped through the door. In the next frames he turns back toward the cameras. He holds a small lighted wand, the kind of throwaway prop that often appeared with him in those years, and the pavement around him is the usual mix of photographers and people leaving the club.

Soho that summer was still the dense square of jazz rooms, private clubs and late kitchens that night photographers worked every weekend. Ronnie Scott's was (and is) a fixed point on Frith Street. The neon in the first frame fixes the venue without any guesswork. The set from that night is already on Backgrid as BGUK_3716762. Three frames are used here. Background faces that are not Brand have been blurred for this site version. In-car frames from the same set are left out.

Russell Brand in black with long dark hair and necklaces outside Ronnie Scott's, red neon sign above him.
RONNIE SCOTT'S, SOHO, JUNE 2007. Russell Brand outside Ronnie Scott's jazz club in Soho, London, on the night of 21 June 2007.
Russell Brand walking away and looking back over his shoulder, holding a small lighted wand.
Looking back outside Ronnie Scott's on the same night.
Russell Brand in black standing on the pavement outside a Soho doorway at night, facing the camera.
Full length outside the club entrance, June 2007.

The Groucho Club, 18 June 2010

Three years later, on the night of 18 June 2010 (camera times into the early hours of 19 June), Brand was photographed leaving the Groucho Club on Dean Street, still in Soho. The look has shifted. He wears a white open shirt, black waistcoat, gold scarf, tight black trousers and silver pointed boots, with dark glasses despite the hour. One frame shows him mid-stride beside a companion whose face is blurred. Another shows him alone on the pavement, recycling bins and a shuttered window behind him, the flash picking out the scarf and the boots.

The same Drive folder from that night also holds frames of Noel Gallagher leaving the club. Those Noel frames were sent to Backgrid earlier as BGUK_3717004. The Brand frames from the folder were held while his trial was under way. They are the pictures used in this second half of the essay. They have not yet been uploaded to Backgrid. Nothing in these Brand frames shows Gallagher; the Noel set is a separate send from the same night and the same door.

Russell Brand in white open shirt, black waistcoat, gold scarf and sunglasses walking at night, companion's face blurred.
GROUCHO CLUB, SOHO, JUNE 2010. Russell Brand leaving the Groucho Club on Dean Street, Soho, London, on the night of 18 June 2010.
Russell Brand alone on a Soho pavement at night in open white shirt, black waistcoat, gold scarf and silver boots.
Alone on the pavement after leaving the Groucho Club, June 2010.

Now

Brand returns to Southwark Crown Court on Monday 9 November 2026 for sentence. The length of any custodial term is for the court alone. This essay does not guess at it. What the archive holds is simpler and narrower: two public Soho nights, three years apart, from a body of work made in London between 1999 and 2014, when Brand's face was one of the most photographed on those streets.

My photography years ran from 1999 to 2014, and that archive is now licensed through Backgrid UK. Editors looking for these nights, or for other Brand frames from the same years, should go through Backgrid UK Sales.

The pictures

Five frames from two Soho nights. Where people who are not the subject appeared in the background, they have been blurred.

Credit: Charlie Pycraft / BACKGRID. Licensing: Backgrid UK Sales, backgrid_uksales@shutterstock.com