THIRTY NINE MONTE CARLO
IN CONVERSATION WITH
ROSS BEATTIE Ross Beattie is the founder of Thirty Nine Monte Carlo. His exclusive Private Members Sports Club solely was launched October 2016 and has proved to be a success after one short year. Ross Beattie is a former International Rugby player, who played for the Scottish National team. Ross grew up with the hard “rules” of Rugby. He learned early that Rugby is not only a sport but a philosophy of life which builds up the man in term of “muscles” as well as properly educating the “human being”. Ross always had the motivation to continuously improve and better himself and this is one of the main reasons he launched Thirty Nine Monte Carlo in Monaco. At the end of a successful sports career the challenge was to create something which fit his philosophy of life and be special, uplifting and unique. The challenge came in finding an environment that was tailored to his specific needs, and, as the story goes, since he could not find this place, he built it! Thirty Nine Monte Carlo has been a new concept for Monaco. Interviewing a former pro athlete is always a special experience. Sometimes you speak with somebody who lives in the past and likes to reminisce about his former glory….this is not the case with Ross. Ross Beattie is someone who took the best part of his past and used it to create a longlasting project for the future. It is this feeling that you get when entering Thirty Nine. Andrea Dini sat with Ross to talk about the path that led him to opening Thirty Nine Monte Carlo. Andrea Dini: What is the philosophy behind Thirty Nine? Ross Beattie: I originally had the idea that I wanted to create a place to try and help people avoid the problems and issues I had when I was playing professional sport. I was a professional rugby player for 14 years, and I spent just over half that time injured. I’ve had 22 operations. Initially I was looking at ways how I could have avoided those situations. I was also trying to find ways to avoid one of the side effects which is spending a lot of time not knowing what was wrong with me. This was really about the mental problems that occurred because I had nobody to talk to about what was happening to me. This isn’t the case now in sport as
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there’s a lot more sport psychology available. I wanted to create a place where normal people could get the right advice and help so that they could fulfil their potential. If they were a professional athlete, or whether there was a normal person who is spinning like you are, they all could get the advice they needed. After that, it expanded into a much bigger concept. I suppose that my real philosophy is that I just want people to enjoy their life more. AD: Why did you decide to set up a private members club? RB: There are no private members clubs in Monaco, other than the yacht club, which has a completely different philosophy. There are some clubs, but for me the ideal for a private members club is a place where people could feel like they were at home. The yacht club is in one of the most beautiful buildings that was ever created, anywhere. Inside, it’s amazing, but it has a certain philosophy, which it sticks to when you go there. You get dressed up, there’s a certain ambiance, and it feels like it’s a privilege to be there. Whereas in here, I want people to completely relax. They can be themselves and totally switch off. They don’t have to show off. They don’t have to feel they have to act a certain way. It’s a place where
they can do business in an environment where they can be themselves. As soon as people are relaxed, they can talk about anything. If you want to do some business and you’re in a relaxed environment, you might get the deal done quicker. So my goal was to create a social environment where people can do everything under one roof, but also they can meet friends and create a community. This is a very different concept to anything else in Monaco, and I felt that something like this was missing in Monaco. AD: Does the fact that the entry fee is quite high bring some degree of internal selection? RB: Two things. First of all, strangely enough, Thirty Nine Monte Carlo is cheap compared to other clubs in the world. Secondly, a lot of people don’t fully understand what the club is yet. What you actually get with your full membership is quite a lot. Currently, there’s 60 free classes a week on the gym side that you get, and that will grow over time. You don’t get that anywhere else. On top of that, it’s the environment, and the service that we offer. We don’t necessarily want every single person to be a member. We want the right people to be members. AD: How do you actually set up a private members club? RB: I have no clue. [Laughs] No, I’m joking. It’s funny. Eight years ago when I finished playing rugby, I saw an opportunity in Monaco to do something slightly different in my old business, which is a bespoke health and wellness center. I just knew that Monaco was different and that there was an opportunity here. I also knew there are some amazing people down here. So I packed my car up and literally just drove down here from Newcastle and I’ve been here ever since. I never knew that this is what I’d be doing. I didn’t plan it. It’s just something organically that kind of evolved. And even when we first started the project here, it was never initially meant to be what Thirty Nine is now. It just kept growing and growing and growing. So it’d be very easy for me to say -- yes, it was a big plan --
