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Alternative Members’ clubs: London institutions changing up the scene

By Holly O'Mahony on 5/4/2019

Back in the day, members’ clubs were the reserve of London’s rich and titled elite. Basking in tradition and draped in luxe finery (and more than a hint of snobbery), clubs like Boodle’ in St James’s, The Garrick in Covent Garden and Annabel’s in Mayfair belonged to the little-strayed-from prototype of what a ‘members’ club’ should be, and were strictly off-bounds to those without the pursestrings, contacts or prestige to warrant membership.
Fast-forward to the mid 1990s and Soho House opens its doors, simultaneously opening up the world of members’ clubs to a different breed – aiming to attract the arts and media crowd. The concept took off and now the group have 23 properties – eight of which are in London alone – and still there’s a wait list of hopefuls looking to acquire membership. But Soho House is old news; now there’s a spate of private members’ clubs in London looking to fill a niche and offer something different. Here are the alternative members’ clubs worth knowing about.

The Wing, London: a members' club exclusively for women

The Wing, Fitzrovia

When the first branch of The Wing, a women-only members’ club, opened in Manhattan’s Flatiron District in 2016, it was an immediate success. So much so, its founders Audrey Gelman and Lauren Kassan were soon able to follow up with four further iterations, two of which can be found in other parts of New York City. Now, The Wing is flying across the sea for the first time, opening in London later this summer.

The Wing has built its London nest in a five-storey townhouse in Fitzrovia. While finite details are still shrouded in some mystery, the London location is set to have two event spaces, a tea room and multiple terraces. It’s also likely to mirror signature traits of its US siblings, including: a women-focused library, co-working spaces, conference rooms, a children's play area and an extremely Instagrammable beauty parlour.

WHEN

Opening late summer 2019

WHERE

Fitzrovia

The Curtain, Shoreditch

In 2017, Michael Achenbaum opened The Curtain members’ club, spanning three storeys of a hotel by the same name in Shoreditch. The club quickly filled its 700-person capacity and grew a wait-list of a few hundred more – 60% of whom were women.

The club – which cost £70 million to build – has 120 hotel rooms, a co-working space, rooftop pool and spa, and screening room. ‘So do lots of members’ clubs’ we hear you say. Okay, but it also has a members-only basement bar (Billy’s), live-music space, its own taqueria (feeding London’s love of Mexican bites) and a real Banksy mural. Yes, you read that correctly – the cardboard cut-out of Flying Copper (2003) – a policeman with an acid smiley in place of his face and wings on his back – was bought by Achenbaum following Banksy’s 2003 show where it was the centrepiece. Members’ clubs don’t come more original than that now, do they?

If your visit coincides with summer, do book a table at the rooftop restaurant, the Lido, which overlooks the pool. The foliage-adorned space boasts a retractable roof which, when the weather is fine, offers a chance to dine sky high and al fresco. The restaurant offers all-day dining, featuring breakfast classics during the morning (eggs benedict etc), followed by a Mediterranian-inspired menu throughout the rest of the day. Drinking? The slushies – the Frizota (Patron Silver, Cointreau, rhubarb, lime) and frozen Aperol Spritz (Aperol, Rinquinquin, Cocchi Rosa, Grey Goose la Orange, lemon) in particular – are musts.

MEMBERSHIP: £1,000 per year with a one-off £250 joining fee

WHERE

45 Curtain Road, London EC2A 3PT

Home Grown, Marylebone

Home Grown, open from April 2019, is a members’ club that means business. Unlike its big sister, social club Home House (which is a mere three-minute walk away), the focus at Home Grown is providing a space for aspiring professionals in the business sphere to meet, share ideas and inspire one another with mental tools needed to grow. In the words of the club’s representatives, Home Grown is for those ‘interested in serious business and lively debate’.

The 35 bedrooms of the six-storey townhouse have rooms with business-themed names like ‘Equity’ and ‘Venture’, while the line-up of events here includes breakfast briefings, business seminars and fireside chats. It’s not all work, though; the club hosts wellness activities including yoga and meditation classes, and socials in its bar and restaurant areas. And, Home Grown is as keen to attract members from the worlds of beauty and fashion as it is those from banking and finance.

MEMBERSHIP: £2,000 per year for full membership, plus a £299 joining fee

WHERE

44 Great Cumberland Place, Marylebone, London W1H 7BS

The Conduit, Mayfair

One of the newest names on the members’ club circuit is The Conduit, which opened in September 2018. The love-child of social change warriors 35-year-old Rowan Finnegan and 48-year-old Paul van Zyl, its focus is on attracting NGO leaders and others working in the charity sector, as well as investors looking for philanthropic opportunities.

The Conduit’s commitment to the environment and doing things for the ‘greater good’ is not just a surface-level boast, though. Head into the kitchen and you’ll find staff (10 per cent of whom were previously homeless or from underprivileged backgrounds, but helped through the Beyond Food Foundation) working with ingredients supplied by small-scale farmers, fishermen and other UK-based specialist producers.

No less than 170,000 lbs of recycled materials have been used to form the club’s interiors, while energy-saving and biophilic design schemes are in place to help reduce the space’s carbon footprint. Plastic – now the physical elephant in the room wherever you go – is being addressed here, too; the club is working with an eco-farm in Cambridgeshire that grows hemp crops to be used as an alternative to plastic for insulation inside buildings.

MEMBERSHIP: £1,800 per year/£800 for under 33s with a provable ‘commitment to social change’, plus a £850 joining fee

WHERE

40 Conduit Street, Mayfair, London W1S 2YQ

The Court, Soho

The Court, a members’ club in Carnaby which opened in February 2019, has been founded on the logic that if you employ the right specialists in each field, the finished product is sure to delight. As such, the club boasts a restaurant menu developed by Michelin starred chef Tom Sellers; luxe décor designed by internationally-renowned artist Bradley Theodore and celebrity florist Nikki Tibbles; and a basement cocktail den serving tipples created by award-winning mixologist Ryan ‘Lyan’ Chetiyawardana.

The club – which is owned by Harry Mead and sits on the Kingly Street site once home to Bag O’Nails, where Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles and The Who were all regulars – is overseen by General Manager Richard Haddon. Given Haddon’s former career at Mahiki London, members can bank on enjoying some high-end fun in its quarters.

MEMBERSHIP: £600 a year

WHERE

9 Kingly Street, Soho, London W1B 5PN

The Allbright, Fitzrovia (and Mayfair in 2019)

In March 2018, on International Women’s Day, Anna Jones, former UK chief of Hearst Magazines, and Debbie Wosskow, founder and CEO of home-exchange service Love Home Swap, opened the institution many had been waiting for: a women-only members’ club. Called the AllBright, the club is designed with its exclusively female clientele in mind; as well as the usual meeting rooms, cafe and bar, the AllBright boasts a wellness studio offering fitness classes and rooms (available to hire for £50-an-hour) for beauty treatments.

The AllBright is clearly providing a much-coveted offering. The club has a wait list of over 800 hopefuls, and is due to open the doors to its second outlet – in Mayfair – in spring 2019. The new offering will include work and coaching spaces, event and screening rooms, an 80-seater restaurant, bar, and two roof terraces.

MEMBERSHIP: £1150 (joining fee of £300) / £750 for under 30s (joining fee of £200)

WHERE

11 Rathbone Pl, Fitzrovia, London W1T 1HR

24 Mayfair, Park Lane

If the Hertford Street location of new members’ club 24 Mayfair sounds familiar, don’t let on; it might be because you’re all-too-familiar with its long-standing parent: the Colony Club, an exclusive casino specialising in ‘elegant gaming’. The relaunch of the club has seen a new space, 24 Mayfair added on. Forget gambling, here the offering is high-end cocktails and cuisine from around the world. A little of the Colony Club’s ethos has trickled over to 24 Mayfair too: the club offers a space to drink and dine 24 hours a day.

Styled by British fashion designer Maria Grachvogel, the luxe, retro Hollywood-inspired suite includes an eight-seat, glass-encased bar specialising in Teppanyaki (iron-fired Japanese cuisine). Here you can tuck into the likes of scorched salmon and buffalo mozzarella makimono or seared foie gras, or order from a separate menu encompassing cuisines from South Asia and the Middle East. Drinks, meanwhile, include Japanese specialities, champagne cocktails and martinis mixed with 24k gold-leaf – surely drinks don’t come fancier than that.

MEMBERSHIP:TBD

WHEN

Opens July

WHERE

24 Hertford Street, Mayfair, London, W1J 7SA

The Library, West End

One for bibliophiles, The Library in the West End is a snug, dimly-lit, club with a scattering of low furniture (courtesy of Out Of The Dark) and books lining its walls. It’s architecturally pleasing to the eye, too, with a sculptural staircase leading up to a stylish mezzanine and chandeliers decorated with books. The Library’s whisky room lends it a traditional air older than its years (the club opened its doors in 2014), while its terrace – complete with a ‘vertical garden’ – two bars, bedrooms, and private dining space all make it an attractive space to come and dwell.

The Library also has a fitness suite (boasting gym equipment and a studio space offering classes in mindfulness), spa and treatment rooms, a restaurant, and stage where live music is played at night to set the tone.

MEMBERSHIP: £1,100 a year

WHERE

112 St Martin's Lane, London WC2N 4BD

Re:Centre, Hammersmith

Re:Centre in Hammersmith is not actually exclusive; anyone can drift in from the riverfront to enjoy its bright, lofty quarters and take a moment to recharge their mental batteries. However, those who choose to become members of the space can take advantage of discounted exercise classes – which take place in studios featuring floor-to-ceiling mirrors overlooking the river, specialist rooms offering both mental and physical treatments, relaxing daybeds, and an art studio offering group courses and art therapy sessions.

The centre also houses a vast, multi-function space for workshops, exhibitions, live music and performances, and the room can also be hired for corporate away days, too. There’s also a second studio – where barre classes take place – which doubles up as a screening room for film nights. Here, members are invited to pull up a beanbag and watch a flick on the projector screen. The centre has a health-conscious ethos at its core, serving up an exclusively veggie menu and alcohol-free cocktails in its café.

MEMBERSHIP: £550 a year

WHERE

Thames Wharf, Rainville Rd, Hammersmith, London W6 9HA

M Den, Bank and Victoria

A club with a playful nature, M Den Victoria is accessible through a secret wall; once behind it, members find themselves submerged in a chocolate-coloured space (essentially a luxe den) featuring personalised bottle lockers, a private bar, fireplace and six-seater screening room. The club also has a second, slightly smaller outlet, M Den on Threadneedle Street, which is a swanky playground for City boys boasting a private bar, mirrored 50-inch TV screen and B&O sound system – to get the evening started with a boom, presumably. Open every day from 7am – midnight, M Den hosts a number of members’ events and is also available to hire to throw your own fancy party.

MEMBERSHIP: £1,000 per year / discounts for corporate group memberships and families

WHERE

Zig Zag Building, 74 Victoria St, London SW1E 6SQ / 2-3, 60 Threadneedle Street, London EC2R 8HP

The Ministry, Bermondsey

The Ministry of Sound opened its first private members’ club in Bermondsey in July 2018, aiming to provide a space for the city’s creative community to socialise and work. It costs just £60 a month to be a member and has quirky novelty elements such as a tequila bar in the women’s toilets and a 36-seater cinema. The club also boasts a 70ft bar and – unsurprisingly given its founding organisation – an immersive tech studio.

MEMBERSHIP: £60 a month

WHERE

79 - 81 Borough Road, London, SE1 1DN

Keystone Crescent, King’s Cross

Nestled discreetly within a row of neatly-kept town houses – a stone’s throw from heaving King’s Cross station – is Keystone Crescent. This speakeasy-esque members’ lounge requires its clientele to punch a code into an unmarked door before entering and settling themselves in one of its comfy armchairs for an evening of booze-fuelled fun. One for cocktail connoisseurs and night owls, this private bar serves tipples to its members until 4am on weekends.

Purse-friendly, membership to Keystone Crescent can be acquired with a one-off payment of just £35, for which members can enjoy the bar’s bespoke Crescent Negroni, make the most of its Tonic Tuesdays – where double G&Ts are served for just £5 between 6-9pm – and its monthly Soulful Sounds nights.

MEMBERSHIP: One-off £35 joining fee

WHERE

28 Keystone Crescent, London N1 9DT