Heaven brought gay clubbing into the UK mainstream and gave London a club to rival New York's gay super club at the time, The Saint.
Until it opened, most gay clubs were small hidden cellar-bars or pub discos. Heaven quickly established itself as the centre of the (then understated) gay London nightlife. Norman used his knowledge and experience of establishing and running a nightclub to create an entirely new kind of gay club on a larger scale. The Embassy proved to be successful and attracted a fashionable clientele it is generally seen as the London equivalent of New York's Studio 54. Norman, an entrepreneur, had started an earlier club, The Embassy, in Old Bond Street in 1978. The original hi-tech interior was designed by his partner, Derek Frost.
Norman was also chairman of Burke's Peerage, the publishers. Heaven was opened in December 1979 by Jeremy Norman in a former night club called Global Village, which was housed in the arches beneath Charing Cross railway station, once part of Adelphi Arches, a large wine-cellar for the hotel above.
