From clubs for wine connoisseurs to clubs for corporates, here are eight new openings across the English capital
1. 12 HAY HILL
As we reported in the summer, 12 Hay Hill arrived on the corner of Berkeley Square in July. The five-floor business club has 25 high-spec serviced offices and 11 meeting rooms with break-out spaces on each level.
On the fourth floor is a lounge for relaxing or hot-desking with floor-to-ceiling windows, contemporary artwork, Italian furniture, a bar and two meeting rooms.
On the ground-floor is an 80-seat restaurant headed up by Michelin-star chef Shaun Rankin, plus a private dining room for 12 people. A bar/deli resides on the lower ground floor, while a 60-cover roof terrace will open in the spring. Click here for more details.
2. SOHO HOUSE 76 DEAN STREET & KETTNER’S TOWNHOUSE
After 20 years, and now with 14 members’ clubs in Europe and North America, Nick Jones continues to build his empire of cool. His best-known clubs in London are Shoreditch House and the original Soho House on Greek Street.
Dating back to 1995, it's been much in need of a revamp. As a consequence, it closed in the spring, with a new venue – Soho House II – arriving on nearby Dean Street not long after.
Soho House 76 Dean Street occupies a renovated Georgian townhouse, with facilities including dining rooms, a courtyard, a roof deck and a screening room in the basement for 45 people.
The interior design is opulent yet homely, with marble fireplaces, chandeliers, timber floors, leather Chesterfields and original artwork.
Jones has also bought champagne bar/restaurant Kettner’s on Soho’s Romilly Street with a view to restoring the entire block and turning its historic upper floors into hotel suites. It is expected to open in 2018 as Kettner’s Townhouse.
3. SOUTH KENSINGTON CLUB
SKC made its grand entrance in June, placing fitness, wellness and socialising at the heart of what it does. The converted Georgian Music Hall once housed Pineapple dance studios and, later, Ronnie Wood’s Harrington Club.
The four-floor property near Hyde Park has a roof terrace, a 60-seat Mediterranean restaurant, a juice bar and a tea library. On the top level is the gym, with full-height windows and skylights, equipment from Technogym, and three yoga studios. Health and fitness assessments are also available, as well as osteopathy, physiotherapy and acupuncture.
A Turkish bathhouse provides “aquatic body work” in London’s only saltwater Watsu pool, plus massage therapies and a hammam.
4. 67 PALL MALL Opening in November, 67 Pall Mall will occupy the former Banking Hall on St James’s. This “niche interest” club is designed for wine collectors and connoisseurs. An “unrivalled” wine list with “sensible” prices will detail 500 vintages available by the glass thanks to a high-tech Coravin pouring system.Set across three floors, the club will feature a lounge with floor-to-ceiling windows facing St James’s Palace, a temperature and humidity-controlled Wine Library, and two meeting rooms for 12 to 80 people seated. A restaurant with a Josper grill will be run by head chef Marcus Verbene (of J Sheekey and Le Caprice).
One of the most interesting additions will be the Chatwood “Invincible” Strongroom for storing rare wines. Members will be able to store a certain number of their own bottles here for consumption in the club. There will also be a programme of wine-themed events, courses and talks, as well as tastings and château dinners.
5. DEVONSHIRE SQUARE
Brian Clivaz, the founder of Home House private members’ club on Portman Square, is planning a new venture in the City of London.
Covering 5,388 sqm, 4 and 5 Devonshire Square will see a 19th-century warehouse turned into a 70-room hotel and “full service luxury lifestyle” club by next summer.
Facilities will include a lounge, cigar terrace, bars, a restaurant, winter garden, library, screening room, dining rooms spa and gym.
6. NEUEHOUSE
Neuehouse arrived in New York, in 2013, with a second club opening in LA this September. London will be the third destination for this lifestyle-slash-business concept early next year, with the club located near the Savoy hotel in the art deco Adelphi building facing the River Thames.
“A center of cultural activity that is also conducive to imaginative work,” it will be invitation-only for entrepreneurs and their teams who work in the film, design, fashion, architecture, arts and branding industries. The interiors will be by Neuehouse Design Studio and David Rockwell and there will be an extensive cultural programme.
7. TEN TRINITY SQUARE
Iconic 1920s building Ten Trinity Square, near Tower Bridge, was vacant for three years until Chinese investorDr Chanchai Ruayrungruang – chairman, of the Reignwood Group – bought it in 2010.
He has since embarked on a multimillion-pound transformation project to be complete next summer – there will be 41 luxury apartments, a 100-room Four Seasons hotel on the lower three levels and the club.
Located on the second floor, occupying the building’s original boardrooms and offices, it will feature ornate ceilings and hand-carved walnut panelling. There will be meeting space, a bar, an art gallery, a cigar lounge and business centre, as well as the Château Latour wine store for residents and members.
8. CURTAIN CLUB
Michael Achenbaum, president of Gansevoort Hotel Group, is building the Curtain Hotel and Private Members’ Club on Curtain Road in Shoreditch. The US$70 million project will take the form of a nine-floor building with 114 hotel rooms and six suites.
Opening next autumn, the club will be “seamlessly integrated” with the hotel, and will feature dedicated areas for members. These will include a whisky bar, garden room, inner courtyard and sound-proof event venue. A screening room will also be available for hotel guests. Click here to read our full report.
To read more on private members’ clubs in London, look out for our upcoming December/January issue.
Jenny Southan
