travellers club london membership

34 of London's most exclusive private members' clubs, ranked by price

• London is home to some of the most exclusive private members' clubs in the world.
• We've rounded them up and ranked them by the price of a standard annual membership.
• They range from £150 ($195) to over £6,000 ($7,816) a year.

London's private members' circuit has come a long way since the days of the stuffy gentlemen's club.

The capital now boasts one of the most diverse selections of clubs in the world.

While areas such as Mayfair and Pall Mall are still synonymous with the members' club scene, an explosion of more accessible, affordable, and trendier clubs have shaken things up.

Whether you are looking for a wellbeing sanctuary, to indulge in the world of fine wine, art, and live performance, or just somewhere with cool rooms where cool-looking people hang out, each club has its very own niche, making it even trickier to pick the right one.

Read more: The 10 most expensive cities to live in around the world in 2019

We've rounded up a selection of London's most exclusive private members' clubs, which cost between £150 ($195) to over £6,000 ($7,816) for an annual membership.

Scroll down for a sneak peek inside some of London's best clubs, ranked in ascending order by the price of a standard annual membership and joining fee.

This is an updated version of an earlier story by Rosie Fitzmaurice.

Disrepute, Soho — £150 ($195) per year.

Disrepute, a "hidden gem" nestled within an opulent Soho basement, offers a carefully curated cocktail menu and an atmospheric space perfect for secret late-night sessions. It is one of the most reasonably priced members' bars in London.

Membership privileges include priority reservations, the ability to book in parties of up to 12 people, and free access to special events, talks, and masterclasses.

The club says it is a members' bar not in the conventional sense, and that applications are welcome from people of all backgrounds and persuasions. Non-members are also welcome to book a table, subject to availability.

You can apply for membership here.

The Court, Soho — £600 ($782) per year.

Soho newcomer The Court , situated on Kingly Street, is set to open in spring 2019 with a 24-hour license, making it one of the latest nights in the neighbourhood.

Founder Harry Mead says of the members' club: "We have a wide range of characters on the members' panel so that we can curate an interesting and diverse membership. We want it to be the place where you can have dinner with an artist and a tech entrepreneur while listening to great live music and sipping an incredible cocktail. It’s a bar and a restaurant and a place to listen to live music and see stunning art — it’s the whole experience that makes it what it is. There are great venues across the city that tick one or two of these boxes, but very few that bring all of these."

The club promises members can expect a restaurant with a menu developed by Michelin starred chef Tom Sellers, "show-stopping décor," and "an ultra-sleek Gatsby-esque basement bar with cocktails created by award-winning mixologist Ryan Chetiyawardana (AKA Mr Lyan)."

Candidates can register their interest online.

Quo Vadis, Soho — £500 ($651) per year, plus £150 ($195) joining fee.

Quo Vadis, easily recognisable by its iconic neon street sign, is another of Soho's members' haunts. The club consists of a first-floor bar and lounge, and a dedicated members' restaurant, which serves quintessentially British cuisine. The second floor is home to the "Blue Room," an intimate, atmospheric lounge with an open plan bar and first-rate sound system.

It is popular among Soho's creatives, foodies, and more generally seekers of relaxed business and serious pleasures.

Under 30s benefit from a discounted yearly rate of £300 ($391). The club doesn't have a blanket policy for membership and says it instead looks at case by case applications, accepting people without airs and graces who are interesting and happy to be themselves.

Prospective members can apply online here.

L'Escargot, Soho — £450 ($586) per year, plus £250 ($326) joining fee.

Set in a Georgian townhouse in the heart of Soho above London's oldest French restaurant L'escargot, the chic Upstairs Club is accessed via a psychedelic carpeted spiral staircase.

It's a secretive hideout away from the hustle and bustle of the capital. There is an air of eccentricity to the club which offers its members access to a series of private rooms, including the salon noir, salon bleu, and salon rouge, which regularly host performances and general debauchery.

Under 28s can obtain a reduced membership of £250 ($326). If you don't have a proposer, you may be asked to visit the club and meet with one of the membership team for a drink and a brief introduction.

To apply, hopefuls should submit a personal profile online here.

Black's Club, Soho — £525 ($684) per year, plus £250 ($326) joining fee.

Nestled in the heart of Soho, Blacks Club is famed for the supper clubs that it now hosts at least once a month, with a focus on either wine, fashion, or art. Its website states: "The theme is always celebrated in style with special menus and plenty of wine! Always a popular night with members."

There is a one-off joining fee of £250 ($326) and an annual membership costs £525 ($684), while a dual or couple membership costs £750 ($977). Meanwhile, under 30s benefit from a discounted rate of £300 ($391), and those overseas can pay £350 ($456) annually.

The full membership costs can be found online here.

The Chelsea Arts Club, Chelsea — £598 ($779) per year, plus £295 ($384) joining fee.

The Chelsea Arts Club has a rustic and bohemian charm. The club centres around the billiard room, the dining room, and a secluded garden. There are also 12 bedrooms which members may book.

The club counts painters, sculptors, architects, poets, photographers, filmmakers, writers, actors, and musicians among its members, and their works are exhibited at the club year-round. Its parties are said to be "legendary."

In addition to offering a discounted rate of £21 ($284) for under 30s, the club distinguishes between "town" and "country" memberships, with the latter benefitting from a reduced rate of £435 ($567).

The Chelsea Arts Club says it has a waiting list for new applicants, who have to be sponsored by two existing members whom they have known for at least two years.

The proposal form can be downloaded here.

Albert's at Beaufort House, Chelsea — £650 ($847) per year, plus £250 ($326) joining fee.

Albert's Private Members' Club recently re-opened in Beaufort House just off the Kings Road in Chelsea, having originally opened its doors to the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in 2016. The concept is a three-story townhouse featuring an all-day restaurant, two bars and a nightclub, plus a private dining room.

It claims to have an atmosphere of "quintessential English charm," with a "relaxed sophistication" in the day that becomes "electric" as dusk falls.

Lifetime membership can be obtained for a one-off payment of £2,500 ($3,257), or annual membership is £650 ($847) with a £250 ($326) joining fee (or £500 ($651) for under 30s). All members are required to be proposed by a current member, or to come in for a quick tour with the membership director.

More information on membership at Albert's at Beaufort House can be found here.

Eight Club, Bank or Moorgate — £900 ($1,172) per year, plus £75 ($98) joining fee.

Eight Club opened in Bank in 2006, and launched a second location in Moorgate two years later.

Eight Moorgate, situated on the top three floors, offers panoramic views of the city with a simple concept of creating "a professional yet relaxing atmosphere with a range of tailored services for the members, focusing on service, the highest quality food and drinks all delivered within a beautifully defined interior."

Members can take advantage of 12 meeting rooms, a private screening room, a library, members lounges or restaurant, and some Championship pool tables.

Those interested in applying can visit the website.

The Ministry, Southwark — £840 ($1,094) per year, plus £150 ($195) admin fee.

The brains behind Ministry of Sound launched this private members' club and co-working space for creatives in a former Victorian printworks in Southwark last year.

Home to London's longest copper bar, a restaurant, private dining rooms, a 38-seater cinema, private sound studios, and an outdoor heated terrace, The Ministry is a pretty cool place to be. Members have access to the Ministry of Sounds Does Fitness gym, a calendar of events, and even a tequila and mezcal bar in the toilets.

Applications are reviewed by the membership committee every month. Those interested can apply online.

Century Club, Soho — £750 ($977) per year, plus £250 ($326) joining fee.

Launched in 2001, The Century Club sits behind a discrete front door on Shaftesbury Avenue. It boasts four floors of members' club fun, including Soho's largest roof terrace.

Given its proximity to the theatres of London's West End, it is frequented by people in the arts, media, and entertainment industries.

The club also offers an out-of-town reduced annual membership at £550 ($716), and an under 30s membership costs £400 ($521).

To apply for membership, prospective members need to   complete an application   and attend an informal meeting with the head of membership.

The AllBright Club, Bloomsbury or Mayfair — from £700 ($920) per year, plus £300 ($394) joining fee.

The AllBright club, which opened in March in Bloomsbury, was the first female-only members' club in the UK. It describes itself as "a space for working women to convene, collaborate and network in order to help change the current economic landscape for women."

The club boasts a cocktail bar, library and lounge, exhibition space, and bookable meeting rooms. The bar stocks wines from all-female vineyards and there is a unique cocktail list that pays homage to pioneering women from history. Members can visit a beauty bar in the basement's powder room and attend exercise classes in the wellness area, run by Elissa El Hadj, founder of London's Form Studios.

The AllBright Mayfair, a second female-only club, will open its doors on Maddox Street in Mayfair in May 2019. It will be home at a brasserie, restaurant and bar, wellness floor, co-working space, and two roof terraces with views over Mayfair.

Meanwhile, the first international club, The AllBright West Hollywood, will open in Los Angeles in summer 2019.

£1,150 ($1,512) plus a £300 ($394) admin fee (or £750/$986 and £250/$329 fee for under 30s) will get you access to all three clubs, while the Bloomsbury Club is £700 ($920) plus £300 fee, and Mayfair is £900 ($1,183) plus £300 fee.

You can start an online application form here.

The Hospital Club, Covent Garden — £865 ($1,127) per year, plus £250 ($326) joining fee.

The Hospital Club is a unique private members' club targeted at the world of creatives located in the heart of Covent Garden.

The seven-story building has an award-winning TV and music studio, a gallery, restaurant and bars, a screening room, 15 hotel rooms (open to non-members) and a live performance space, The Oak Room.

The club has a reputation for showcasing emerging and established creative talent via its gallery and member spaces.

Under 27s benefit from a discounted annual membership of £475 ($619), and a joining fee of £100 ($130).

Find out more here.

The Groucho Club, Soho — £950 ($1,238) per year, plus £250 ($326) joining fee.

Founded in 1985, The Groucho Club is the original arts and media members' club in the heart of Soho. The club is home to London's creative elite, with a number of celebrity members, and is renowned for its contemporary art collection.

The walls of The Groucho Club are adorned with art from over 140 acclaimed artists, including Tracey Emin, Damien Hirst and David Shrigley. The club also has 20 furnished bedrooms as well as a selection of private event spaces available for both members and guests.

There is a reduced membership price of £575 ($749) for under 35s and £350 ($456) for under 30s. Members based in the country over 100 miles from London can pay £750 ($977), and overseas £650 ($847). A lifetime membership is priced at £15,000 ($19,540).   Apply here . For under 30s, country members and those overseas the joining fee is reduced to £100 ($130).

The Curtain, Shoreditch — £1,000 ($1,303) per year, plus £250 ($326) joining fee.

Shoreditch newcomer The Curtain , which is also home to a hotel, promises it's "not about wealth and status."

"We don't care who your parents are," its website reads. "We want members that have something in common: namely, a creative soul."

The majority of The Curtain's members work in creative industries — film, fashion, advertising, music, art, and media. They get access to three restaurants (including one on the roof which comes complete with a pool), three bars, a 24-hour gym, dedicated co-working space, and access to events including gigs and quiz nights.

Those interested can fill out an application form online.

Morton's Club, Mayfair — £1,000 ($1,303) per year, plus £500 ($651) joining fee.

Morton's private members' club has been at the forefront of Mayfair's elite social scene for the past 40 years. The Grade II-listed building overlooks the length of London's exclusive Berkeley Square.

The first-floor restaurant, with its lofty ceilings and panoramic balcony for summer al fresco dining, is the focal point of the house. Morton's head chef, Dario Avenca, has devised a Mediterranean-inspired menu and the club claims to boast the largest wine list above any of its competitors.

Potential new members must be referred by two existing members.   Applications are to be made to membership secretary Stephen Howard.

Soho House, Soho — from £1,300 ($1,693) per year, plus £400 ($521) registration fee.

Soho House at 76 Dean Street is a Grade II-listed mid-Georgian townhouse spread over four floors. It's popular with the neighbourhood's media crowd. Among its many features is the screening room, a fully air-conditioned 43-seat cinema (pictured above) offering a varied programme of advance screenings and new releases.

Soho dwellers now have a choice of Soho House establishments to hang out in as earlier this year the original house 40 Greek Street also reopened its doors following a major renovation.

Local membership to Soho House Dean Street and Greek Street   gives you access to the spaces and facilities at both houses: bars and restaurants, the screening room, and outdoor spaces.

White City House, White City – from £1,300 ($1,693) per year, plus £400 ($521) registration fee.

White City House, one of the newest additions to the Soho House group, opened in April 2018. It is located in the former BBC London headquarters in West London. It boasts two floors of member spaces, a 17-metre rooftop pool and bar, steam room, sauna, hammam, cinema, screening room, huge gym, and 45 bedrooms.

There's a large open kitchen, with an "East meets West" menu, dim sum, Peking duck, and bao buns served, as well as healthy plant-based dishes. HouseGym, the largest Soho House gym, has four class studios, as well as TRX equipment, and Olympic lifting platforms.

The membership application process is the same for all Soho Houses — you apply   online here   with some information about yourself and two current members as proposers.

Shoreditch House, Shoreditch — from £1,300 ($1,693) per year, plus £400 ($521) registration fee.

Shoreditch House is situated on the top three floors of the old Dickensian Tea Building in East London. It draws London's "it" crowd and members can enjoy stunning views of the City from the club's rooftop pool.

The club boasts plenty of other areas for members to chill out in — or freelance from — including the sitting room, the Square bar, the Snug, Cowshed Spa, the House Kitchen, which boasts a wood-fired oven, in addition to a gym, sauna, and steam room.

The Soho House group offers two kinds of yearly memberships — "local" and "every house." The first costs £1,300, and gives you access to the facilities at one house in particular, while an every house membership grants you access to all of the clubs, and costs £1,650 ($2,149).

These rates are reduced to £700 ($912) and £925 ($1,205) respectively for under 27s, for whom the registration fee is also lower at £200 ($261).

Start your application here.

Home Grown, Marylebone — £1,500 ($1,954) per year, plus £299 ($389) joining fee.

The team behind Home House will open Home Grown , a new club for "high-growth entrepreneurs," on April 3, 2019.

Situated on Great Cumberland Place in Marylebone, the club will be made up of "a carefully selected membership of entrepreneurs and investors" who will "join a star-studded group of business rock stars to create a unique new community, designed for individuals who not only work to live, but live to work."

Home Grown aims to "combine all the luxuries of a members’ club with unrivalled networking opportunities" through events and a brasserie-style restaurant, study café, bars, business lounges, meeting rooms, pitching suites, and 35 bedrooms.

There are a number of founding membership packages available, from a full founder to a "Homecoming" membership with just 30 visits a year for £1,000 ($1,303), or a "Unicorn" who also have access to 20 bedroom nights and two half days in the pitch room each year for £4,000 ($5,211).

Those interested in a founding membership can apply online , and those accepted before the opening will have their joining fee waived.

Home House, Marylebone — £1,940 ($2,527) per year, plus £299 ($389) joining fee.

Home House is an exclusive private members' club in London's Marylebone, which "fuses 18th-century splendour with 21st-century style."

The club's facilities include a boutique health spa, a garden for al fresco dining and drinking, two restaurants, numerous bars, The Vaults decadent party rooms, elegant bedrooms and suites, as well as a full calendar of social events throughout the year.

According to the club, "the best bit is that there are no stuffy rules, in fact there really aren't any rules at all. Well, just one: 'Nudity is discouraged.' Naughtiness, on the other hand, is de rigueur."

The club offers a number of different membership packages, including an under 35 annual rate of £1,275 ($1,661).   The application process involves submitting your membership enquiry online here,   before meeting with one of the team for a tour of the house.

12 Hay Hill, Mayfair — from £1,600 ($2,084) per year, plus £750 ($977) joining fee.

12 Hay Hill   describes itself as a business-focused members' club "where business can be conducted without restrictions." It says it also provides "atmospheric rooms in which to relax and to leave the world of business behind."

The club boasts private meeting and dining rooms and 23 luxury serviced offices, in addition to the main restaurant and brasserie.

Club membership begins at £1,600 ($2,084) (for 20 visits per year), while business membership costs £3,200 ($4,168) (for 60 visits per year), and premier membership (unlimited visits per year) is £3,800 ($4,950). Alongside annual costs, there's a £750 ($977) joining fee.

Information on membership can be found online here.

Devonshire Club, The City — £2,400 ($3,126) per year

The Devonshire Club, located in the heart of the City, opened its doors in 2016.

Housed on over 60,000 sq ft in a 19th century Regency warehouse, it boasts 68 bedrooms, a 110-seat brasserie, three bars, four private event rooms, a members gym, glazed garden room, outdoor terrace, and a private courtyard garden.

The club offers members an opulent space to relax and conduct business. It attracts the likes of financiers and city professionals, as well as creative execs based in Shoreditch and Hoxton.

Many of its members come through referrals, and   every potential applicant is put forward to the membership committee.

The Conduit — £1,800 ($2,345) per year, plus £850 ($1,107) sign-up fee.

The stylish Conduit is a sustainability-focused members' club which officially opened in Mayfair in September 2018.

A home for "a diverse community of people passionate about social change," the eight-floor, 40,000 square foot club aims to bring together "social entrepreneurs, creatives, business leaders, philanthropists and civil society."

It's made up of an events floor, rooftop lounge with terrace, restaurant with terrace, speakeasy, and areas for working and dining.

The calendar of events is impressive, and has even included a residency by Massimo Bottura, the best chef in the world.

There are discounted memberships for students or those under 33, anyone living overseas, or those joining as a not-for-profit or social enterprise.

Candidates can apply online , but must prove "tangible experience in social impact/social enterprise."

67 Pall Mall, St. James's — £1,500 ($1,954) per year, plus £1,500 joining fee.

67 Pall Mall says it is   London's first private members' club for wine lovers , born from "a passion for fine wine and a frustration at the egregious mark-ups on the capital's wine lists." It says that the club's mission is to make the world's finest wines accessible to its members at sensible prices.

The club offers over 500 wines by the glass using Coravin's revolutionary wine access system, as well as an extensive list by the bottle from all corners of the world. The club's wine list is curated by 67 Pall Mall's master sommelier, Ronan Sayburn MS.

The club also offers a reserve facility, which allows members to store up to two cases of their personal wine collection in the club's cellars to enjoy by the bottle in the members' lounge as and when they please. Membership discounts apply for under 35s, under 30s, and "wine professionals."

Candidates require a proposer and seconder from within the club's existing membership.

Mark's Club, Mayfair — £2,000 ($2,605) per year, plus first year fee of £1,000 ($1,303).

Opened in 1973 as "an alternative to the St James's gentlemen’s clubs," Mark's Club is an elegant and traditional retreat for work or play situated in a Mayfair townhouse.

This is a posh place, though — the website states: "Ladies should be elegantly dressed and gentlemen are required to wear a jacket at all times," and provides a list of banned clothing, including leggings and untucked or unbuttoned shirts.

According to Country & Town House , an annual subscription to Mark's Club is £2,000 ($2,605), and there's an entrance fee for the first year of £1,000 ($1,303).

To become a member , candidates must be proposed and seconded by two existing members. Application forms should be submitted along with a letter explaining why you want to join, and letters of support from the proposer and seconder.

Ten Trinity Square, the City of London — £3,000 ($3,908) per year.

Ten Trinity Square opened its doors in London in September 2017. It is a collaboration between French wine estate Château Latour and Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts.

Designed by Bruno Moinard and set within the former headquarters of the Port of London Authority in Tower Hill, it boasts a cigar sampling lounge, library and billiards room, and a members' bar and dining room, where you can enjoy an extensive wine list.

Perhaps the biggest members' perk has to be the access to the spa at Four Seasons, where guests can enjoy an indoor swimming pool, vitality pool, sauna, hammam, steam room, and gym.

You can make membership enquiries online here.

The Arts Club, Mayfair — £2,000 ($2,605), plus £2,000 joining fee.

As its name would suggest, The Arts Club attracts people connected to or passionate about art, architecture, fashion, film, literature, music, performance, photography, science, theatre, and TV/media.

The 18th-century townhouse at 40 Dover Street in Mayfair counts Charles Dickens among its former members. The club's art collection remains at its very core, highlighting international trends, as well as maintaining a focus on British-based artists.

Under 30s benefit from a reduced annual subscription of £1,000 ($1,303), plus a joining fee of £1,000. New members are accepted on January 1 each year.

The Ned, Bank — £3,150 ($4,103), plus £1,000 ($1,303) joining fee.

Soho House and New York's Sydell Group joined forces to create The Ned which opened in London in May 2017.

Set in the former Midland Bank building, it boasts 252 bedrooms channeling 1920s and 1930s design, nine restaurants, a range of grooming services, as well as "Ned's Club," a social and fitness club where members have access to a rooftop pool, gym, spa, hammam, and late-night lounge bar.

Ned's Club Upstairs has a heated pool overlooking the London skyline and two converted domes with outdoor terraces for eating and drinking. The Roof Bar features a retractable roof and heaters, and offers views of the City and St Paul's Cathedral, with an international menu prepared on the rotisserie grill and wood oven.

Behind a 20-tonne, two-metre wide vault door is The Vault bar & lounge, an all-hours cocktail bar lined with thousands of original safety deposit boxes, ideal for a nightcap.

Process for membership is to simply apply online here.   Applicants can have up to two referrals, but it's not compulsory.

South Kensington Club, South Kensington — £3,500 ($4,559) per year, plus £1,000 ($1,303) joining fee.

South Kensington Club is a health and fitness sanctuary inspired by the spirit of adventure.

It offers a unique "Voyager Programme" headed up by polar explorer Christina Franco. The programme comprises three elements: a monthly lecture series, the opportunity to join tailor-made expeditions inspired by the lectures, and preparation and training for these adventures carried out by specialist fitness instructors at the club.

Other membership privileges include a sky-lit gym, fitness classes and training programmes, a bathhouse (with a hammam, banya, and Watsu pool), spa and beauty treatments, a Mediterranean restaurant, club sitting rooms, and a concierge service.

Membership starts at £365 ($475) per month, plus a £1,000 ($1,303) joining fee, while an under 30s rate begins at £228 ($297) per month, with a £500 ($651) joining fee. However, the club offers a rate of £3,500 ($4,559) plus a £1,000 ($1,303) joining fee to members paying upfront.

Details on membership can be found online here.

Annabel's, Mayfair — £3,250 ($4,234) per year, plus £1,250 ($1,628) joining fee.

Annabel's is truly iconic. After more than 50 years in Soho, the club reopened last year two doors down in a Grade I listed Georgian mansion house. The eccentric English "Alice in Wonderland" style decor alone makes it worth a visit to its restaurant, bars, garden terrace, private dining rooms, spa, and cigar room — think bespoke chandeliers, pink ceilings, and a seriously Instagram-worthy bathroom.

The club's 26,000 square feet are open all day and night. Stick around for long enough and you're sure to spot a celebrity.

It encourages "individuality and fabulous party dressing," and claims its members are made up of "a hand-picked alchemy of like-minded people who share a passion for the best things in life. There is, however, a rule book for members.

There's a discount for those under 35 (£1,750 ($2,280) a year) or under 27 (£1,250, or $1,628) a year, and joint memberships are available, though joining fees still apply. 

Those interested in applying should get in touch with the club to be sent an application form.

Mortimer House — £6,000 ($7,816) per year, plus £250 ($326) joining fee.

Mortimer House , a majestic six-storey art deco building in Fitzrovia, claims to have been "born of a desire to fulfil the need for synergy in our personal and professional lives."

It's a place to "create, work, and unwind in equal measure."

While the "Resident" membership, which gives members unlimited access to communal floors, meeting rooms, the gym, and events programmes any day of the week, will set you back £500 ($651) a month (£6,000 or $7,816 a year), there are a few other options, including a "Club" membership for £80 ($104) a month where you can only visit on evenings and weekends for social events, "Traveller" for £250 ($326) a month which gives you access to all floors on evenings and weekends and five days a month, or a "Home" membership, which, from £1,000 ($1,3030) a month, gives you a dedicated workspace.

Prospective members can apply through a website form.

Hurlingham Club, Fulham — undisclosed.

Money can't buy you a membership at the prestigious Hurlingham Club in Fulham — at the moment at least —   according to its website which states "the waiting list for new members is now closed, subject to annual review."

It's not hard to see the draw of joining the Hurlingham Club to those who have the money and connections. As it's outside of central London, it's surrounded by luscious green manicured lawns, offering the perfect spot for an afternoon game of petanque, bowls, or croquet.

The Hurlingham's huge grounds feature outdoor and indoor pools, squash and tennis courts, a gym, bar, and conservatory, in addition to countless rooms and terraces. It resembles a country estate.

Expect to rub shoulders with London's elite and even royalty,   Princess Charlotte was reported   to have been taking tennis lessons there.

White's, St. James — undisclosed.

White's is considered one of London's oldest and most exclusive gentleman's clubs — it doesn't even have a website. Based in St James, it is one of a handful in the city that does not allow women to enter at all,   according to The Guardian .

Prince William, Charles, and the Duke of Wellington, as well as David Cameron, have all reportedly been members at some point.

When Business Insider contacted White's to inquire about membership costs, the club declined to comment on membership at all. However,   The Telegraph   suggested in 2013 that membership cost about £850 ($1,107) a year, so it is likely to be more than that now.

Meanwhile, the   Daily Mail   suggests that new members must be vouched for by some 35 signatories.

5 Hertford Street, Mayfair — undisclosed.

5 Hertford Street considers itself so exclusive that it wouldn't reveal its membership price to Business Insider. We did, however, manage to get the above glimpse of its insides.

Described   by Vogue   as the "loveliest club in London," it is frequented by Hollywood A-listers and home to the impossibly cool Loulou's nightclub for after dinner dancing.

Membership can be obtained only through application , but the word is some billionaires have been unable to score entry, so it's best not to get your hopes up.

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The story of The Travellers Club, the oldest club on Pall Mall and a home-from-home for globetrotters for 200 years

To mark the bicentenary of The Travellers Club – the oldest club in Pall Mall – John Martin Robinson tells the story of an institution and its home, a purpose-built Renaissance palace. Photographs by Paul Highnam.

The Travellers Club was founded in May 1819, brainchild of Viscount Castlereagh, Foreign Secretary and British Minister Plenipotentiary at the Congress of Vienna. He spoke of establishing a club in which men could meet socially with other travellers, visiting ‘foreigners of distinction’ and diplomats.

Throughout its history, these elements have been a strong part of the club’s character. To qualify, members had to travel 500 miles in a straight line outside England. A member quipped it had to be on land, otherwise ‘convicts from Botany Bay might have qualified’.

Photograph by Paul Highnam/Country Life Picture Library

The club emerged after the Napoleonic Wars, when war and trade had carried mariners, soldiers and officials across the world. For cultural travellers, conflict had deflected visits from the usual Grand Tour destinations to Greece, the Levant and Egypt.

Early members included five future Prime Ministers – Aberdeen, Palmerston, Canning, Lord John Russell and the Earl of Derby – as well as several Greek Revival architects/designers: Smirke, Wilkins, Westmacott, Thomas Hope and C. R. Cockerell, the latter the club’s architectural conscience.

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There were diplomats, such as the Earl of Elgin, who gave a plaster cast of the Parthenon Marbles, and his associates Lt-Col William Leake, who brought the Marbles to London, and William Richard Hamilton, Elgin’s secretary, who prevented the French from removing the Rosetta Stone from Egypt.

They were all trustees of the British Museum and several founders of the National Gallery joined them, including Sir George Beaumont, George Vernon and the Rev Holwell Carr, who all gave their collections to the gallery.

The founder chairman was the 2nd Lord Auckland, later Governor General of India and responsible for the unsuccessful First Afghan War. Other committee members included John Sawrey Morritt, friend of Walter Scott, who had surveyed the scene of the Iliad and bought Velásquez’s ‘Rokeby Venus’, and Sir Gore Ouseley, the earliest British ambassador to Persia. Military figures in the early membership included the Duke of Wellington, the Marquess of Anglesey and Lords Raglan and Cardigan.

‘This house, in turn, proved inadequate as the membership grew’

The first foreign visitors were Russian: Count Simon Woronzow, ambassador to George III, and his son, Prince Michael Woronzow, commander of the Russian cavalry at Moscow in 1812 and governor of the Caucasus, who employed Edmund Blore to design a Moorish-Jacobethan palace at Alupka in the Crimea.

Most famous of the early diplomat members was Talleyrand during his four years as ambassador in London, playing whist most nights and for whom an extra handrail was added to the stair bannisters.

The early visitors also included writers, such as the American Nathaniel Parker Willis and the Frenchman Louis de Vignet. A less welcome guest, who caused trouble by taking books from the library and criticising the card accountant, was Prince Pückler-Muskau. He left a description of the club in his Tour of a German Prince in England (1832).

He was complimentary about the club as an institution, but less so about the members: ‘The English nobility haughty as it is, can scarcely measure itself against the French in antiquity and purity of blood.’ He described them as ‘new families, often of very mean and even discreditable extraction’ and commented that it was easy to muddle the servants for the masters, as the former had more ‘natural dignity’ and better manners.

In 1819, the club took temporary premises in Waterloo Place, which were adapted by Cockerell. These proved too small and rickety and it soon moved to a larger house at 49, Pall Mall. This was also converted for the club by Cockerell, who presented his plastercast of the Phigaleian Marbles from the Temple of Apollo Epikourios, which he had excavated at Bassae and secured for the British Museum. This was installed in the Coffee Room (now transferred to the library of the Barry building) and Lord Elgin’s plaster Parthenon Marbles in the Drawing Room. They gave the building a strongly Grecian character during its 10-year existence.

This house, in turn, proved inadequate as the membership grew. A perfect new site presented itself on the other side of Pall Mall when George IV moved to Buckingham Palace and Carlton House was redeveloped.

The Office of Woods and Forest (Crown Estate) were keen to spread the architectural grandeur of the Metropolitan Improvements along Pall Mall by encouraging new club buildings, which were more impressive than private houses. On either side of Waterloo Place were the United Service Club, designed by Nash, the Athenaeum by Decimus Burton and, opposite the former, the United University Club by William Wilkins.

In 1828, The Travellers secured the site of three houses immediately adjoining the Athenaeum for its permanent base. This was not without hitches, as George IV, with characteristic insouciance, kyboshed the original site deal by insisting on retaining a house on it for a member of his Household; the club accepted a slightly more constricted site, with a condition that the land behind was not built on, and so the setting of trees and grass in Carlton Gardens survives.

Under the chairmanship of Lord Granville Somerset, The Travellers chose its architect by competition. No other St James’s club has selected an architect by such a process.

In May 1828, it was resolved to ‘procure plans from no less than five eminent architects’ and to obtain cost estimates from an ‘experienced surveyor’. For the latter, they chose Joseph Henry Good, Surveyor to the Com-missioners for Building New Churches.

In fact, seven architects were approached initially and 11 in total. Many had already designed clubs. Two members of The Travellers were included: Robert Smirke and William Wilkins. John Peter Deering (a classical archaeologist and, with Wilkins, joint architect of the United University Club), William Atkinson (a pupil of James Wyatt), Decimus Burton, Benjamin Dean Wyatt (architect of Crockford’s and the Oriental, son of James) and Lewis Wyatt (James’s nephew).

The following week, four more architects were approached: Henry Harrison, Jeffry Wyatville, Charles Barry and Thomas Hopper (architect of Arthur’s Club). A couple more were subsequently asked: Ambrose Poynter and Edward Blore. Of these, Smirke, Burton, Lewis Wyatt and Jeffry Wyatville declined, but eight submitted designs.

As the drawings of unsuccessful entries were returned with thanks, all are now lost.

Cockerell was not on the sub-committee, but was on the general committee, and his fastidious criticism elsewhere of his colleagues’ work may explain why some were turned down; nearly everybody thought Blore uninspired and Poynter lacked distinction.

The palm was offered to the outsider, Charles Barry. At 33, he was the youngest to enter and had designed little except the Greek Revival Royal Institution of Fine Arts (now Art Gallery) in Manchester and some cheap Commissioners’ churches in Man-chester and London. The former may have been familiar to northern members, such as Edward Legh of Lyme or Edward Bootle-Wilbraham, but he cannot otherwise have been known to the committee.

His adventurous travels as a student to France, Italy, Greece and Turkey would have appealed to the club, but it was probably his track record with the Commissioners of New Churches that won him the job. Joseph Good was able to advise the club that Barry was experienced in keeping within approved building budgets and that advice may have been decisive. There was also the originality and excellence of the design, with its clever planning for the deep site and the novel deployment of Italian Renaissance palazzo architecture.

The competition design of 1828 was revised to meet the present, narrower site in March 1829 and then revised again to meet criticisms from the Crown and Athenaeum about the likely impact on the cornice of the latter.

Barry’s ingenious solution was to create recesses on both elevations adjoining the Athenaeum. This allowed slightly more interesting shapes for the main rooms and enabled the cornice of The Travellers to be returned at the sides rather than cut off, something that has always been admired.

Externally, Barry drew on Florentine and Venetian sources for the two elevations, Raphael’s Palazzo Pandolfini for Pall Mall and the Grand Canal for Carlton Gardens (where the lawns substituted for Venetian water).

Inside, the vocabulary stretched to include Grecian and English Palladian details, in the library chimneypieces or the carved-oak Grand Staircase. Enthusiasm for the latter may have come from the chairman of the building committee Gen the Hon Sir Edward Cust, with memories of his ancestral home at Belton in Lincolnshire.

Barry’s most novel stroke was the internal cortile in the centre of the plan, with the halls and landings arranged like arcades round it. This enabled light to reach the depths of the interior, including the kitchen, scullery and Still Room in the basement.

The building was constructed by Stokes (Paxton’s son-in-law); it was roofed in 1831 and first used to watch William IV’s Coronation procession. It was completed in 1832.

Barry’s architecture has always been cherished by The Travellers, which, over the decades, has allowed art and architecture students to visit and make measured drawings. There was only one blip in the record: Barry remained the club architect throughout his life, but after him, Hungerford Pollen advised. He was Cockerell’s nephew.

In order to allow in more light, Pollen removed Barry’s balconies from the library windows in 1867 and replaced them with ‘Baker Street’ iron balustrades. Following furious protests, not least from Barry’s younger son and biographer Edward, the club reinstated the balconies to the original design. Suitably chastened, it never attempted to alter the elevations again.

Over the years, several changes have been made to the interior. A fire in 1850 destroyed Barry’s billiard room and the Elgin plaster frieze. In 1910, the Coffee Room was moved up to the first-floor drawing room (Fig 3) to create a ground-floor Smoking Room.

The entrance hall was also tactfully extended, reusing Barry’s windows and chimneypiece into the cortile by the then club architect Macvicar Anderson. Few realise this not part of the original Barry design.

Anderson added upper storeys of bedrooms after the First World War. In the early 20th century, the club benefitted from the care and knowledge of a member, Hal Goodhart-Rendal, who, for a time, also acted as the club architect. He recommended Fred Rowntree as his successor and Rowntree designed the handsome First and Second World War Memorials and restored the club after it suffered bomb damage in 1940.

Goodhart-Rendal had restored and replicated the Colza chandeliers and other light fittings and produced a design for roofing over the main floor of the cortile to make a ‘saloon’. This was not proceeded with, nor was its revival in 1970 by Ian Grant, chairman of the Victorian Society, although he was responsible for re-graining the library in its original oak with a grant from the Greater London Council Historic Buildings Division.

This was one of several late-20th-century restorations of original decorative schemes, including the repainting of the Coffee Room in Barry’s yellows and greys in 1988. The library remains the heart of the club and, as well as being one of the most beautiful rooms in London, it contains the finest collection of travel books in private hands, donated by members over two centuries. Its present flourishing condition with lectures and exhibitions attests to the continuing vigour of The Travellers after 200 years.

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Traditional Gentlemen's Clubs of London

• By londonclubs
• Published on : January 26, 2023
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The Travellers Club, located at 106 Pall Mall, is one of London’s oldest and most prestigious gentlemen’s clubs. Founded in 1819, the club was established for “gentlemen who have travelled out of the British Isles to a distance of at least five hundred miles from London in a direct line.” This membership requirement, along with the club’s luxurious and refined atmosphere, has made it a favorite among diplomats, politicians, and other accomplished individuals. At one point, so many members were linked to MI5 and MI6 that it was simply known as the Spooks Club.

The club’s building, designed by Charles Barry, is a stunning example of Palladian style and has been a London landmark for over 200 years. Inside, members can enjoy various lounges, reading rooms, dining rooms, an extensive library, and a billiards room.

In addition to its impressive facilities, the Travellers Club is also known for its rich history and distinguished membership. Past members include explorers, statesmen, and literary figures such as David Livingstone, Winston Churchill, and Rudyard Kipling. The club has also played host to numerous important events, including the signing of the Anglo-French Entente Cordiale in 1904.

Despite its traditional and exclusive reputation, the Travellers Club is committed to promoting a diverse and inclusive membership. Today, the club continues to attract a diverse range of accomplished individuals from various fields and backgrounds.

Overall, the Travellers Club is a true London institution, offering its members a luxurious and refined atmosphere, rich history, and distinguished membership, along with a commitment to promoting diversity and inclusivity. It is a perfect place for the distinguished traveler and for those who appreciate the best of British culture and tradition. Unfortunately, the clubhouse can be quite dead at times. Moreover, the dining room service, like at the Oxford & Cambridge Club, requires each table to fill in an order form. To members of other clubs, this can seem not only cumbersome but also rather strange and impersonal.

Hello I will be visiting London in October of this year. Being of curios temperament I wonder if i may visit your club perhaps enjoy a meal and or at least experience its historical significance. I’d be thrilled to hear back from you. Thankyou

Regretfully this is merely a blog about London Clubs. We’re not affiliated with the Travellers, and you would have to contact them directly. Generally speaking clubs will only allow visitors from reciprocal clubs.

I have been a member of the Travellers’ for 30 years, and in all that time I have never managed to find the billiards room. Perhaps you might let me know where it is?

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Literary Review

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History , London

Thomas Blaikie

Bed linen & briefs, hair & spare, how deep is your basement, gold, frankincense & mozzarella, petal power, no catholics or californians, before the elbow bump, gravy with everything, peace maker & flower arranger, does she wear one to bed, wtf is grammar, members only, the travellers club: a bicentennial history 1819–2019, by john martin robinson, libanus press for the travellers club 367pp £35.

Who would write, let alone read, a weighty history (literally so: my elderly mother complained she couldn’t lift it), published in a luxury edition priced at £35, of the parish hall or Women’s Institute hut to be found in one of our lesser-known villages? But this is a history of the Travellers Club, 106 Pall Mall, London: patron, His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh; premises, a superb Italianate palace designed by Charles Barry and completed in 1832; members, a blinding cascade of distinction over two centuries. ‘In the 1920s and 1930s’, John Martin Robinson writes, ‘diplomat members of the Club included Sir Horace Rumbold, 9th Bt … Eric Drummond, the 16th Earl of Perth, Ambassador to Italy, Esme Howard, 1st Lord Howard of Penrith … the Hon Ronald Lindsay … Sir Frank Lascelles … and Sir Hughe Knatchbull-Hugessen.’ An appendix lists members who were or are Knights of the Garter.

The Travellers Club was founded in 1819 with a distinctly anti-Brexit agenda of welcoming foreign visitors and bringing together those who had travelled principally to Europe, not necessarily on the traditional grand tour but as soldiers and diplomats too. You could only join if you’d journeyed five hundred miles outside the British Isles. In the time of social change after the Napoleonic Wars, the club was a howling success, always bursting out of one building into another, until finally settling into the Barry mansion in 1832, where it has been ever since. Members were not exclusively prime ministers or aristocracy, although it is noted that really hardcore travellers, such as David Livingstone, John Speke and Samuel Baker, were not members. After the Second World War, rather more wacky figures, such as Patrick Leigh Fermor, Nigel Nicolson and Alan Pryce-Jones, got in. Today, the club appears to be in the hands of QCs and that species of immensely important person nobody has ever heard of.

A London gentlemen’s club is a London gentlemen’s club when all is said and done: a stately home in the middle of London, but with no bedrooms (originally at least) and, of course, no women, a place where one goes to meet people like oneself over ‘luncheon’ or dinner. These institutions have their own funny customs of which they tend to be immensely proud, so what appears to be the dining room at the Travellers is called the Coffee Room. Those of us who are not members might be inclined to peer in and find it all rather preposterous, but that would be sour grapes.

So what has actually been happening at the Travellers Club over the last two hundred years? The installation of a Turkish bath in the club’s second premises was quite an event, as was the serving of dinner at 7pm instead of 6.30pm, and later the provision of luncheon. There were spats with the Athenaeum, next door to the Barry building, regarding a light well which objectionable windows overlooked. That went on for fifteen years or more. Come 1867 and the committee was trying to replace Barry’s stone balustrade with iron railings to let in more light. Frightful outcry, stone reinstated at once.

Meanwhile, an errant laundry mistress was found to have placed a large number of the club’s tablecloths in various pawnshops in the neighbourhood. In the second half of the 19th century, a member said the tea was ‘nauseous’. The committee was appalled: they held a tea tasting and declared the tea ‘delicious’. This followed on from the terrible coffee incident, when the steward had to be told not to offer the previous day’s brew. But oh the joy of the Otis lift, installed in 1904, and the glory when Barry’s iron flambeaux outside the club were lit to mark great events, such as the wedding of the Prince of Wales. The kitchen chimney at 106 Pall Mall ‘in particular was prone to regular conflagrations’, Robinson writes, but rest assured that ‘Barry’s new building was always maintained in exemplary condition’. We also learn that ‘an unexpected off-shoot of the Crimean War was an increase in the number of members smoking … in the Club’.

Intermittently, Robinson is aware of the bathos of all this. The club’s members, he says at one stage, ‘were often up to their necks in public affairs as individuals in Britain and the empire. Generally, however, the Club concerned itself largely with its own business.’ Well, it’s a club, isn’t it? That’s the whole point: to be a little sealed-off world of its own and to have a book like this written about it which is really a catalogue or roll call rather than what is commonly understood to be a book. Everybody and everything must be included.

Robinson refers to ‘luncheon’ without irony and calls a recipe a ‘receipt’, but really is to be congratulated (and no doubt will be at some formal event in the club with speeches) for maintaining over 367 large pages a steady, dignified and perfectly smooth flow, punctuated by the occasional tiny little quip – just like the club itself, one imagines.

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An insider's guide to accessing London’s members' clubs

By Sarah James

London ’s most-coveted spaces can feel impenetrable – and getting a foot in the door of the numerous members’ clubs isn’t always easy. Of the dozens of clubs across the city, which are worth joining – and can you ever access the funkiest places without an astronomical fee? We share our guide to getting a seat at the table.

Is it worth joining a private members’ club?

It depends on what you’re hoping to get out of a membership. All private members’ clubs offer exclusive spaces in the city where you can hang out and get drinks or dinner with like-minded members (often in very cool restaurants or bars). Most, although not all, offer some sort of co-working space, some have gyms or swimming pools or rooftop bars where you’re all but guaranteed a spot even in the height of summer. Bedrooms, so you can treat the club as a home from home, are a given. Nearly all clubs have a program of events tailored to suit their members – at women’s clubs that might involve talks from panels on women in business or workshops on investing, for example.

How do I join a private members’ club in London?

Every members’ club has its own application process, some of which we’ve outlined below. There may be requirements – to join Soho House, you need to be part of the creative community in London, for example.

What are the best private members’ clubs in London?

Annabel's, Mayfair

In the early 1960s, Annabel’s was dreamt up by Old Etonian Mark Birley, who took over a Berkley Square townhouse and carved it into a spot where aristocrats could drink in the basement nightclub, named after his then-wife. It’s said to be the only nightclub that the Queen herself has ever visited (in 2003, when she was 77 years old). In 2018, under new ownership, Annabel’s reopened just two doors away from the original – a Martin Brudnizki-designed maximalist hideout filled with clashing prints and textures. Even those who have never stepped inside know Annabel’s facade – often extravagantly decked out – as an enormous Christmas tree with door staff dressed as nutcrackers, perhaps, or covered in foliage and exotic birds for the Chelsea Flower Show .

Members get access to all the spaces inside, from the basement nightclub to the top floor restaurant and including the terraces, bars, cigar salon and spa, plus to events such as parties, an educational series that might star Joanna Lumley or Roger Frampton.

How to access Annabel’s without becoming a member

You can’t, unless you’re visiting with someone who belongs to Annabel’s – the membership process is tightly regulated, and there’s a waiting list.

Price: The full annual membership costs £3,250, plus a £1,750 joining fee. In a bid to attract younger members, there’s also an under-35 membership option (£1,750 per year plus a £500 joining fee) and an under-27 membership option (£1,250 plus a £250 joining fee).

Membership requirements: A member of one of the Birley Club members’ clubs (which include Harry’s Bar and Mark’s Club) must recommend new members.

The walls of this unassuming Georgian townhouse on Portman Square have witnessed plenty of parties over the years. In the 18th century, it was the domain of Lady Home. Here, she earned the nickname 'Queen from Hell.' In more recent times, Madonna has lived here (when Miss M was renovating a townhouse nearby), and the building has been a wedding venue for Annie Lennox and hosted Pamela Anderson's birthday. Renowned for its legendary parties and its ‘no rules’ policy, it's estimated that members consume around 20,000 bottles of Champagne annually – although this year that number no doubt increased as the house celebrated its 25th anniversary as a member's club.

While the parties are legendary, the club has plenty to offer beyond the nightlife – breakfast meetings in the restaurant, afternoon tea in the decedent drawing room, a subterranean gym and health spa, a dreamy garden space with a changing menu and a dedicated cigar snug. And if you do happen to party until the wee hours, there are 23 characterful bedrooms available to crash in. Four-legged friends are also welcome.

How to access Home House without becoming a member: Non-members can book in to stay at the house – the club also operates as a romantic hotel .

Price: The full annual membership costs £2,250, plus a £399 joining fee. The under-35 membership option costs £1,450, plus a £399 joining fee.

Membership requirements: Applications can be made online .

Opposite  London’s prettiest pub  on Mayfair’s Mount Street, London’s latest new members' club is a sibling to one of the city’s most famous – if sister club Annabel’s is famed for its extravagance, George is its playful little brother. Founded by Mark Birley in 2001 and named after his faithful dachshund, George recently reopened following a mammoth 18-month refurbishment by owner Richard Caring and his wife, Patricia. Out with all of the old (apart from the impressive collection of David Hockney) and in with the new, including a solid bronze circular bar, gold glass tiled ceiling and an imposing dachshund sculpture by artist Jill Berelowitz.

Four-legged friends are a theme throughout – guests are warmly welcomed by the club’s resident hound, a friendly dachshund named, of course, George. True to its theme, the club is dog-friendly, with a menu of doggy snacks alongside the ground floor restaurant’s Mediterranean-inspired menu from chef Marcus Eaves (think oysters, caviar and seafood cooked ‘a la Plancha’). On the weekends, brunch is best taken on the terrace – the largest in Mayfair – while in the evenings, the crowd of bright young things hide away downstairs in The Hound Bar, where tapas bites and cocktails are served throughout the red Art Deco rabbit warren of lounging nooks and private rooms. Lauren Burvill

How to access George without becoming a member: Much like its sister club Annabel’s, only members and their guests can access the club.

Price: The full annual membership costs £2,000, plus a £1,250 joining fee. The under-35 membership option costs £1,000, plus a £500 joining fee.

Membership requirements: Prospective members must be recommended by a current member.

Ned’s Club, The Ned, The City

When The Ned opened in the Square Mile in 2018, it quickly became the London address everyone wanted a piece of. It was dreamt up by Soho House founder Nick Jones (more on him later) and New York ’s Sydell Group (NoMad, Freehand, LINE). A sexy, unapologetically flamboyant ground floor is home to a vast number of restaurants and bars, all pivoting around a central live band.

But beyond this always-buzzing lobby, members here get access to every nook and cranny this fascinating former bank has hidden behind its 1920s façade. There’s a rooftop space that’s exclusive to members, with a heated pool and a restaurant, and, at the other end of the building, a basement club with live music. There is a slick gym and a spa. There are discounts at those ground-floor restaurants from Monday-Wednesday (and after 4pm on Sundays), as well as at any Soho House restaurant that’s open to the public. You get member rates on the handsome bedrooms and access to a roster of events.

How to access The Ned without becoming a member

Those who are happy to access a limited number of The Ned’s members-only spaces should look into Ned Friends membership, which costs a fraction of the price. Ned Friends get access to Millie’s Lounge and the Library Bar, as well as events. They also get member rates on bedrooms and can access all club areas apart from the rooftop when sleeping over. Plus, they get the same discounts at The Ned and Soho House’s public restaurants from 4pm on Sundays to Wednesdays.

Price: Standard Ned’s Club membership costs £3,465 annually, with an under-30s option available at £2,200 annually. Discounted memberships are available to existing Soho House members. Ned Friends membership costs £250 annually or £25 per month.

Membership requirements: New Ned’s Club members need two existing members to propose their admittance. The Membership Committee meet quarterly and admits new members when space is available.

Quo Vadis, Soho

This not-so-little (by Soho standards, anyway) restaurant has passed through many hands over the years. First opened by Italian Peppino Leoni in the 1920s, it’s also been owned by Marco Pierre White and Damien Hirst before ending up with the Hart brothers and chef Jeremy Lee. The building itself has a typically debauched history: it was once a brothel, as well as, at another time, the home of Karl Marx. These days, it’s a restaurant and a members’ club all at once. There’s a dining room and other secluded spaces for members, and the private dining rooms are available for co-working when not otherwise occupied. Events include supper clubs with top chefs such as Nathan Outlaw or Angela Hartnett, and there are quarterly parties to celebrate Pride, Christmas or Burns’ Night (Lee is Scottish, after all). Other events might include art exhibitions, panels or wellness sessions.

How to access Quo Vadis without becoming a member

Anyone can book a table at the public Quo Vadis restaurant.

Price: Standard annual membership costs £600 a year. Under-30s can get a membership for £330 a year. Those who don’t live in London can apply for a ‘country & abroad’ membership, which costs £385 a year.

Membership requirements: Applicants must be put forward for membership by existing members.

AllBright, Mayfair

When it opened just off Maddox Street in 2018, AllBright was hailed as an alternative to the fusty, gentlemen-only members’ clubs that London used to be better known for. The physical incarnation of the collective is set across a five-floor townhouse with rooftop terraces, private dining rooms, workspaces and a salon. The team curate cultural programming that might include talks on investing, networking evenings or industry lunches. Members can take courses led by experts in everything from bettering job applications to learning about NFTs. And AllBright has teamed up with reciprocal clubs across the world that members can access on their travels, from Stockholm to Singapore .

How to access AllBright without becoming a member

The AllBright Plus membership (£8.33 per month) allows members to access the online courses, unlimited articles, and some exclusive events and networking opportunities.

Price: Standard annual membership costs £1,650 a year. Under-27s membership costs £1,320 a year.

Membership requirements: AllBright accepts membership enquiries from women over the age of 18.

Soho House, across London (and the world)

The most far-reaching of all the clubs on this list, in the 25 plus years since the original Soho House opened on Greek Street in 1995, outposts have opened from Malibu to Mumbai . Founder Nick Jones first opened the club as a space for the creative crowd who frequented his restaurant Cafe Boheme to hang out. Babington House, a country retreat in Somerset, soon followed (along with the first Cowshed spa), before things started taking off in the early 2000s. Now, in London alone, there are eight houses, with a ninth (Little House Balham) slated to open in 2022. Then there’s Farmhouse, Brighton Beach House, and Babington House in Somerset, and farther afield houses opened in Rome, Berlin, Mykonos, Nashville, Toronto, Hong Kong and beyond.

Members can waltz into these global spaces, eat at the restaurants, sleepover in the bedrooms (Soho House-style interior design has become a brand in and of itself) and hang out in the spaces. There are also events aimed at the creative community who make up the members.

How to access Soho House without becoming a member

As well as standard membership, Soho House offers Soho Friends and Soho Works memberships. Soho Friends gives access to bedrooms, studios, and events, but not houses unless you’re sleeping over in one of the bedrooms. There are studio spaces at a number of the Soho Houses such as 180 The Strand and White City, as well as in dedicated studios such as in Brixton. Bonus: Soho Friends membership costs just £100 a year, and Soho Friends can add Soho Works onto their membership, which gives them the option to book a desk or office space for remote working (most regular Soho House spaces restrict laptop use).

Price: Members can opt-in to local house membership (which includes unlimited access to your elected ‘local’ Soho House) or every house membership (as it sounds, includes unlimited access to all Soho Houses). Local house membership costs £1,100 annually (under-27s pay from £550). Every house membership costs £2,500 annually (under-27s pay from £1,150 annually). Soho Friends membership costs £100 annually and Soho Works membership costs £400 monthly.

Membership requirements: Aspiring members need nominations from two existing Soho House members to proceed with an application. Only prospective members who are deemed to be part of the creative industries will be accepted – although the admittance committee doesn’t have strict criteria of ‘creativity’ that need to be met.

The Curtain Club, Shoreditch

While East London ’s Curtain hotel shuttering its doors for good during the pandemic was a blow to locals who flocked to its cool members-only areas, a new kid on the block has saved the day. Mondrian Shoreditch revamped the Shoreditch building in just a few short months, reopening in summer 2021 with a shiny restaurant from Spanish chef Daní Garcia in the basement, tons of art, and, of course, a new iteration of the members’ club. The Curtain Club was relaunched, with members gaining access to sharp coworking area The Design Studio, a handsome gym, and a bar and lounge, as well as events (think album listening parties and new music showcases). Members can also hang out at Laurel’s On The Roof, which has a coveted rooftop pool with a sprawling skyline unfolding below.

How to access The Curtain Club without becoming a member

Non-members can access Laurel’s, although a reservation is required.

Price: Standard annual membership costs £1,000 a year plus a £350 joining fee that will be converted into a food and drink credit.

Membership requirements: Applicants must be over 21 years old.

CNT Editors

Cass Farrar

Sophie Heawood

Sophie Prideaux

The House of KOKO, Camden

Former Camden theatre KOKO has long been on Londoner’s radar for a night out – the concert venue come nightclub has been host to the likes of Amy Winehouse and Prince over the years, but closed in 2019 for a tip-to-toe, £70 million makeover. It reopened in 2022 with the addition of a slick new club which gives members a backstage pass to the gorgeous 19th-century building. There are restaurants, a roof terrace and a couple of cocktail bars including a speakeasy with monochrome Zellige tiles, as well as spaces that lean into the building’s musical history such as a recording studio, a piano room and secret vinyl listening rooms.

Members can explore all four storeys of private spaces with three guests, and can bag tickets to live performances, secret sessions and a roster of events.

How to access The House of KOKO without becoming a member

Lots of spaces inside the newly restored KOKO are open to the public, including all-day restaurant Cafe KOKO and concerts. As well as regular annual memberships, The House of KOKO offers a KOKO Plus membership which includes queue jump, access to exclusive events and 10 per cent off food and drink. KOKO Plus costs £99 annually with no joining fee.

Price: Standard annual membership costs £1,500 a year plus a £250 joining fee. Under 35s membership costs £800 a year plus a £150 joining fee.

Membership requirements: Unlike many of the clubs on this list, you don’t need a proposer to be approved for a membership at The House of KOKO, although those with proposers are looked upon favourably.

TRAVELLERS' CLUB (THE), next The Athenaeum in Pall Mall, originated, soon after the peace of 1814, in a suggestion of the late Lord Londonderry, then Lord Castlereagh, for the resort of gentlemen who had resided or travelled abroad, as well as with a view to the accommodation of foreigners, who, when properly recommended, receive an invitation for the period of their stay. Here Prince Talleyrand was fond of a game at whist. With all the advantage of his great imperturbability of face, he is said to have been an indifferent player. The present Club-house (Charles Barry, architect) was built in 1832, and is much and deservedly admired. The Carlton-terrace front is very fine. The Club is limited to 700 members. Each member, on his admission, pays 30 guineas, in which sum is included his subscription for the current year. The annual subscription is 10 guineas. Rule 6 directs, "That no person be considered eligible to the Travellers' Club, who shall not have travelled out of the British islands to a distance of at least 500 miles from London in a direct line. Rule 10 directs, "That no dice and no game of hazard be allowed in the rooms of the Club, nor any higher stake than guinea points, and that no cards be introduced before dinner."

Peter Cunningham, Hand-Book of London, 1850

The TRAVELLERS', 106 Pall Mall, built in 1832, at a cost of nearly 30,000 l ., from Sir Charles Barry's designs. The number of members is limited to 725, each of whom must have travelled at least 500 miles from London. Entrance fee, 31 l . 10s.; annual subscription, 10 l . 10s.

Cruchley's London in 1865 : A Handbook for Strangers, 1865

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Travellers’ Club ,  106, Pall Mall. — The following is the form of recommendation of candidates for this club: “A. B. being desirous of becoming a member of the Travellers’ Club, we, the undersigned, do, from our personal knowledge, recommend him to that honour, subject to the qualification of Rule 15.” The provision of Rule 15 is “that no person be considered eligible who shall not have travelled out of the British Islands to a distance of at least 500 miles from London in a direct line.” The members elect by ballot. When 12 and under 18 members ballot, one black ball, if repeated, shall exclude; if 18 and upwards ballot, two black balls exclude, and the ballot cannot be repeated. The presence of 12 members is necessary for a ballot. Each member on admission is required to pay £42, which sum includes his subscription for the current year. Each subsequent annual subscription is £10 10s. 

Charles Dickens (Jr.) , Dickens's Dictionary of London, 1879

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Modernisation creeps on as London gentlemen’s clubs open to women

Pratt’s is the latest establishment haunt to allow female members but others are still resistant to change

M ild signs of a potential willingness to modernise have been observed in some of central London’s establishment clubs in the past few weeks, led by the announcement that, after a wait of 166 years, women will finally be allowed to become members of Pratt’s.

The decision by the owner of Pratt’s has been met mostly with resigned acceptance by the club’s membership, which includes at least a dozen MPs, and has triggered renewed discussion of possible reform at the remaining hardcore handful of gentlemen’s clubs that refuse to admit women.

Members of the Beefsteak, another men-only dining club joined by MPs, actors and judges, believe it is now likely it will also be obliged to change its rules to admit women. A renewed drive by female campaigners was launched last week to persuade members of the Garrick, including Michael Gove and the actors Benedict Cumberbatch and Hugh Bonneville, to allow women to join.

Meanwhile, at the Athenaeum (which has allowed women as members since 2002) an organised movement by about 70 members to block further modernising changes was rejected at last Monday’s annual general meeting, with an intervention from Theresa May , who shut down discussion of a series of motions aimed at preserving the club’s “traditional ethos”.

The need for reform is being felt at many of London’s Pall Mall clubs, despite their reputation as outposts of an unchanging Britain frozen somewhere in the 1950s, partly because rising food and energy prices have brought cost of living issues to the attention of members of clubs located in old, draughty buildings with high overheads.

Changes at Pratt’s – where the current and former Conservative MPs Kwasi Kwarteng, Nicholas Soames and Hugo Swire are members – were brought in “with immediate effect” by the club’s owner, the Earl of Burlington, William Cavendish, without consultation in late May. However, there will probably not be any perceptible change to membership in the near future, because the process of proposing and seconding new members takes considerable time, requiring 25 people to support a nomination by writing their names in a book in the club and later committee approval.

“There has been chuntering, people saying, hmm we don’t like this, complaining that they weren’t consulted,” a Pratt’s member said, but he added that younger members were beginning to feel belatedly that the status quo was indefensible. “There’s a feeling that the legal grounds for these places to be all male is quite shaky.”

Emily Bendell, the founder of a clothes business who has been campaigning for the Garrick to change its rules to admit women, wrote last week to a handful of the club’s most prominent members, noting that eight years had passed since 50.5% of the club’s membership voted in favour of women members, a vote that fell short of the required two-thirds majority needed for rule change. “A second vote is long overdue,” she wrote.

“I’m sure you would not be a member of a club that excluded members on the basis of race, religion or sexuality, so we urge you to call for a new vote to allow female members at the Garrick.”

Her campaign has been met with bemusement by some (mostly male) commentators who question the need to fight for equality at a tiny group of elite institutions, but she argues that the existence of men-only clubs that have senior male lawyers and politicians as members “negatively impacts women’s professional advancement”.

Last week’s failed attempt by a splinter faction of Athenaeum members to resist modernising changes to the club centred on a desire to “restore quiet harmony”. Its failure suggested most members recognised that reform was necessary. A new sub-group within the club, named the 1824 group (the year the club was founded), sent a letter to fellow members protesting that: “We sense that the traditional ethos of our club is step by step being eroded and moving towards something which appears more like a corporate run facilities-based hotel/restaurant.”

The former prime minister Theresa May, who like her husband, Philip May, is an Athenaeum member, intervened with a procedural motion, blocking discussion of all motions proposed by the 1824 group, according to the historian Felipe Fernández-Armesto, who was one of the 1824 group’s organisers. “I was literally shouted down,” he said.

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“We were trying to enshrine the perception of the club not as a business, but as a meeting place of intellectuals. A lot of us have become very dissatisfied very recently because the club is being driven at a furious pace towards incorporation as a business. There’s a commercialisation happening across clubland,” Fernández-Armesto added.

The Travellers Club (which has diplomats among its members), White’s (which has never allowed women inside the building, with the occasional exception of the late Queen Elizabeth II), Brooks’s and Boodle’s all remain resistant to admitting women.

Even at clubs that chose to let women in decades ago, the proportion of female members remains low. Although the Athenaeum began admitting women 21 years only, its membership remains overwhelmingly male; only 28% of the club’s 147 new members were women in 2022-23, only 7% were under 40 and only two new members were under 30.

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London every week

Fly to London every week!

5 days, from 615 €/person.

.An organised trip to London is the sure-fire way to discover every aspect of London. Trust the tourism professionals for your organised trip and enjoy every moment. London lends itself to an enchanting getaway any time of the year, and its many attractions and easy access to the city are trump cards.

Day 1: Greece – London – city tour – British Museum.

Meet at the airport and depart for London. Arrival at London airport. We then head towards the centre of Europe’s multicultural metropolis where we will begin by taking a panoramic tour of the city’s most important sights. The famous author Samuel Johnson once said that if you are bored of London then you are bored of living. During our tour we will pass by the Albert Memorial and the Royal Albert Hall, the famous Hyde Park with its 640 acres of land bordered by the gardens and Kensington Palace, then from Marble Arch ( Marble Arch ) the only marble monument in London and crossing the famous Park Lane and passing Green Park we reach the hallmark of London’s evening life Piccadilly square. Then we will pass by Trafalgar square which is also called the navel of London because from here all distances to other cities in England and abroad are officially measured.Continuing on the famous Whitehall street we will see the Buckingham Palace where King Charles resides where his mother Queen Elizabeth II used to live, and then we will pass in front of the entrance to the official palace of the monarchy which is St James’ Palace, but because it was relatively small the Royal Court decided in 1837 to move to the neighbouring Buckingham Palace. We continue the panoramic tour passing by the famous Parliament building, an amazing building built in two different centuries, the 11th and 19th century. Parliament houses the House of Lords and the House of Commons and of course we can see the famous Big Ben, the clock tower of Parliament. Opposite Parliament is St Margaret’s Church and next to it is the amazing Westminster Abbey. The tour ends with a visit to the famous British Museum where, among other things, we will see the wing of Greek antiquities where the unique beauty of the Parthenon sculptures are exhibited and admire numerous other antiquities including the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus and the Temple of Artemis. Then transfer and check-in at our hotel. Overnight stay.

Day 2: London – Free day for shopping (Optional evening city tour).

English buffet breakfast and a free day for shopping and sightseeing as the city is inexhaustible in shopping, art and entertainment. As is well known London is truly the fashion capital of the world. The famous Oxford Street, Bond Street, Regent’s Street with its countless department stores such as Selfridges, with its famous high fashion houses and high end shops are a shopping attraction for millions of visitors to London. Also not to be forgotten is the Harrods department store attraction in Knightsbridge for similar luggage. Alternatively, we suggest a stroll through London’s famous markets such as Portobello’s in the Notting Hill area, Spitalfields and Camden market with its shops and dozens of stalls selling second-hand antiques and other folk art items that may be bargains. For a good meal for those who like Chinese cuisine the options are many as the traditional Chinese Quarter (China Town) has countless Chinese restaurants and next to the Chinese Quarter there are so many restaurants of all nationalities such as the Argentinian Gaucho Piccadilly for steaks, the British traditional classics Rules & Simpsons and the luxurious The Wolseley in Mayfair. In the evening you can join a night out on the town and experience the heart of London’s nightlife. You will see Soho with its narrow streets and many bars and cabarets, the famous Leicester Square with its cinemas hosting world premieres and the famous Shaftesbury Avenue where the world’s most famous musicals are performed. We will then have the opportunity to enjoy the city’s most famous monuments and the Thames bridges, illuminated. We will also enjoy the Old City of London or the City of London which is just one square mile in area but houses the largest shipping and insurance companies on earth and many, many banks. So this is essentially where the economic heart of Europe beats. After a short stop at the Tower of London, we will continue and see the Tower Bridge over the River Thames, which is a meandering river. The Stock Exchange and the Bank of England are located here in the centre of the old city of London as well as one of Christopher Wren’s masterpieces St Paul’s Cathedral. Return to the hotel. Overnight.

Day 3: London – Free day (Optional Greenwich, Maritime Museum, Catty Sark, Thames Cruise).

English buffet breakfast and free day. For those who wish can participate in the optional excursion. After a relatively short drive We will end up in Greenwich with the most famous Royal Observatory in the world, we will see the 0 o’clock point and the point where the eastern and western hemispheres are separated. We will visit the Royal Maritime Museum and the fastest sailing ship of the 19th century era, the Cutty Sark. We will then board a ferry at Greenwich Docks to enjoy a one-hour cruise to central London. Overnight.

Day 4: London – (Optional Oxford – Stratford from Avon).

Breakfast at our hotel. Free today. Those who wish can join our optional day trip to Oxford and Stratford. First stop is Oxford, the foundation city of Anglo-Saxon education. We will see the magnificent college and university buildings in the world’s most famous and oldest 11th century campus. We will also see the clock tower of Carfax Tower and the Asmolian University Museum. We will then take a spectacular drive through nature, passing through picturesque hamlets whose houses were built of wood and brick, to reach the doll’s town of Stratford Avon. Stratford Avon, built on the River Avon, is also famous for being the birthplace of playwright William Shakespeare. The town centre is dominated by the eponymous theatre and Shakespeare’s childhood home. Return to London in the afternoon. Overnight.

Day 5: London – Excursion to Windsor Castle – Athens.

English buffet breakfast. Departure for Windsor Castle, First we will pass by the Royal College of Eton founded in 1440 . The setting of the college that under its arched towers still nurtures princes, dukes, lords, earls, and aristocrats of every class. Eton College is an all-boys’ boarding school. It is one of the most prestigious educational institutions, with prestige and rules that resemble royal protocol, and its students – the offspring of the world’s elite – manage to get into a huge percentage of universities in the so-called Ivy League – and the prestigious institutions of Oxford and Cambridge in particular, and even a 30% admission rate. It is no coincidence that Eton College has graduated 20 Prime Ministers of Great Britain, including David Cameron and Boris Johnson, King Charles and many others. Some of the most famous alumni are still Princes William and Harry, and if we take a look back in time, we will meet personalities such as Ian Fleming, George Orwell and members of the Rothschild, Goldsmith and Vanderbilt families. We then pass over the River Thames which rises from the Welsh mountains and passes the Royal village of Windsor on its way. Windsor is a Royal Village because the castle is home to the summer palace of the Royal Family. The castle is notable for its long association with the English and later British royal family, but also for its architecture. The original castle of Windsor was built in the 11th century, after the Norman conquest of England under William I. Since the reign of Henry I it has been used by successive monarchs. The castle also includes the chapel of Agios Georgios, which was built in the 15th century and is the spiritual place of the castle. It is the most populous castle in the world, with more than 500 people living and working there. Queen Elizabeth II used the castle for her weekend residence, as well as a place for receptions and to receive foreign guests. Every year the Waterloo Ceremony, attended by the King, and the annual Order of the Perignite ceremony, held in St George’s Chapel, are held there. At the end of the tour leaving Windsor we will pass the back of the castle where we will see the road where Queen Elizabeth used to take which is an absolute one mile straight to attend every June and watch the Royal Ascot Horse Races. Continuing on we will pass through Runnymede Park where we will see the Magna Carta monument where in 1215 King John the Conqueror met with a group of barons in this small piece of countryside. Here he sealed the Magna Carta, seen by many as the symbolic first step on the road to modern democracy. Departure for the airport and flight back to Greece with the best impressions of our excursion.

What is included:

• Economy class airline tickets with Sky Express .
• One 8 kg carry-on bag and one piece of luggage up to 15 kg with Sky Express.
• Transfers to and from London Airport
• Three or four nights’ accommodation at the HOLIDAY INN KENSINGTON HIGH STREET 4* hotel depending on the programme chosen.
• English buffet breakfast.
• Panoramic city tour with a visit to the British Museum on arrival.
• Excursion to the city and Windsor Castle on departure.
• Transfers as mentioned in the itinerary.
• Excursions tours, guided tours as mentioned in the program.
• Experienced guide.
• Liability insurance.

Not included:

• Airport taxes and fuel surcharges €250/person.
• Entrance fees to museums – shows, gratuities, drinks, porterage and anything optional or suggested that is not included in the above offers.
• Everything mentioned as optional or suggested.

Available Dates:

February Departures 01/02 , 02/02 , 08/02 , 09/02 , 22/02 & 23/02.

Departures of the 5-day tour 

*when sharing a room with 02 adults *depending on date and availability, price may vary.

Indicative flights with Sky Express

• The above times are local for each country.

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