CLUBLAND

From the renaissance of an ethical members’ club in Covent Garden to the opening of an arts-focused hub in Clerkenwell, these are the openings to know about this season

Words HARRIET COOPER, LUCIANA BELLINI & RACHEL INGRAM

Sessions Arts Club

The Old Sessions House, 24 Clerkenwell Green, Farringdon, EC1

sessionsartsclub.com

It’s taken six years of meticulous restoration overseen by Swedish brothers Ted and Oliver Grebelius of Satila Studios, but Sessions Arts Club – which opens this summer – has been worth the wait. Housed on the fourth floor of 18th-century former courthouse Old Sessions House, in the heart of Clerkenwell, the unique space has been transformed into an elegant restaurantmeets-wine bar-meets-gallery.

Founded on the cornerstones of art, food and music, the club is the brainchild of artist Jonny Gent; Jon Spiteri, one of the founders of the much-loved and revered St John restaurant; architect Russell Potter, who has worked with Soho House and Polpo Group; and the Grebelius brothers.

With such illustrious names on board, this city sanctuary was always going to be a standout. And indeed it is. Interiors are stripped back; think distressed walls, stucco collonades, scrubbed wooden floorboards and original fireplaces. Chandeliers, a piano and mismatched furniture, much of it sourced from markets and salvage yards, add to the aesthetic. “I worked very closely with Russell Potter who more than anyone understands the poetry of space,” reveals Gent. “I’m just as intrigued by the raw as the polished. The intention was always to dress it as

I would dress my studio – I’m not too concerned with the unfinished. In my work and in our spaces – I think it’s good to see the practice and thought often more than a finished idea.”

The airy gallery and performance space is the perfect setting for the club’s progressive line-up of exhibitions, workshops and events that run the gamut of art, fashion, music, wellness and theatre. “Sessions Arts Club isn’t static, it isn’t a gallery,” insists Gent. “It’s a place for the mix between art, food and life. It doesn’t pause.”

Joining Gent on the Art Committee are Darren Flook, founder and director of Freehouse, an art gallery in east London, and David Southard, founder

Florence Knight and Jonny Gent

and director of Southard Reid, an art gallery formerly in Soho. “We wanted the art to be layered via the social and physical space in a unique environment where every week is an opening. Art will build up, stories and nights, music and dinners, the hope for the space is that over time work will be added, moved, commissioned and occasionally sold,” he explains.

“As for our first group of works, the first three artists we asked to respond to the space were women working in photography, Robin Graubard; sculpture, Gabriele Beveridge; and painting, Milly Thompson. There will be other pieces – my studio is underneath the restaurant so the odd Gent piece might make the walls,” he teases. “We are currently inviting artists to see the space, think about what they’d like to do. It’s both new to them and new to us,” he admits. “The invited artists reflect the diversity and energy of the city of London in 2021. What you can expect from us in the future is excellence, pleasure and things that make us think. Things that touch us.”

Florence Knight, formerly head chef of Polpetto in Soho, makes her much-anticipated return to the capital’s dining scene, bringing her pared-back, seasonal style to the Art Club’s kitchen. Dishes are delicate in their execution – grilled friggitelli with sea salt, sea bream, fig leaf and sorrel, or pork belly cooked with fennel & orange, or lamb sweetbreads with lettuce and lovage, followed by apricot ripple ice cream. The wine list is equally noteworthy, curated by Terry Kandylis, with Dan Keeling and Mark Andrew, the owners of Noble Rot.

Light floods through huge arched windows into the 60-seater dining room, where the green leather banquettes are a nod to the fact this space was originally the judge’s eating quarters. The horse-shoe shaped bar and mezzanine are digestif territory, though on balmy days, the elegant roof terrace, marble bar and infinity rooftop pool are delightful. And with no membership required for this Club, everyone’s invited.

180 The Strand

180 Strand, Westminster, WC2

sohohouse.com

It may be Brutalist from the outside, but behind the doors of 180 The Strand, the aesthetic is anything but. This is comfortable luxe at its best. Not surprising when you learn that Nick Jones and his Soho House team have taken over all nine floors of the building, transforming the former office block into a dynamic cultural hub.

That’s not to say that the building – designed in the early 1970s by the architect Sir Frederick Gibberd – has lost all of its period details. Far from it. Many of the original window structures, for example, have been left exposed, and there’s a structuralist vibe throughout.

Soho House knows how to do a chic rooftop pool and this one, on the building’s ninth floor, is no exception. Tiled in dark blue-glazed lava stone, it’s the perfect spot for catching up with friends over a Negroni cocktail and admiring the views over the Thames and the Houses of Parliament.

The poolside restaurant, with its floor-to-ceiling windows, stainless steel bar and 1970s-inspired furniture created by Soho House Design offers an all-day menu and late-night snacks, while the outdoor terrace and DJ booth add to the party potential.

As with all the Houses, art is front and foremost throughout and Soho House Head of Collections Kate Bryan has worked her magic again, with more than 150 striking artworks on display. Paintings and drawings from the Soho Self touring collection of selfportraits, by such luminaries as Maggi Hambling, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye and Megan Rooney, sit alongside newer acquisitions by Yinka Ilori, Alexandria Coe and Cherelle Sappleton.

A huge double wall installation – made up of 70 brightly framed works – on the rooftop is a scene-stealer, serving as a poignant reminder of the pandemic. There’s Christabel Blackburn’s depiction of socially distanced queues for supermarkets in the rain; Kemi Onabule’s paintings of wild dancing; and poem paintings such as Gommie’s “if you like you can just snog me and then drop me off at the hospital”.

The main members’ space, spread across the floor below, is a vision of lacquered paint, shag-pile rugs and leather bar, surely a homage to the building’s 1970s heritage; so too the dining room, with its geometric carpet, mohair banquettes and mirrored ceiling.

Floors one to seven are dedicated to Soho Works, a network of terrazzo floored, vintage-furnished spaces designed for collaboration and creativity, from hot desks to

boardrooms. Soho Health Club, due to open later this year, will offer cuttingedge equipment, class-based workouts and treatments, from infra-red saunas to cryogenic chambers. 180 Studio – on the ground floor – is an ever-evolving, buzzing space with a bike workshop, pop-up restaurant, cafe and shady garden, all of which are open to both members and Soho Friends, the newest membership tier. An urban bolthole for creative souls.

The Curtain Club

45 Curtain Road, Shoreditch, EC2

sbe.com

Formerly known as The Curtain hotel, the Reuben Brothers-owned Mondrian Shoreditch is already being heralded as one of the capital’s hottest unveils of 2021, marking the slick brand’s muchanticipated return to London.

The design is by Goddard Littlefair (recent restorations include The Mayfair Townhouse and Gleneagles in Scotland) so, as you’d expect, interiors are witty and imaginative across the 120 rooms, the reception, lobby, double-height ground-floor bar, all-day cafe and cocktail bar Christina’s Shoreditch, and BiBo, Michelin-starred Dani García’s tapas restaurant.

Those in the know, however, will want to take the lift to the upper floors, where the design studio has worked its magic at The Curtain Members’ Club, which throws its doors open again on 1 September, welcoming forward-thinking and progressive members (membership is £1,000 per annum or £100 a month, with a one-off joining fee of £350).

Though it's kept its moniker, the club has undergone a sparkling refresh. Not least in the revamped Rose Bar and Lounge, where a rose gold ceiling and pillars glimmer alongside jewel-hued velvet furnishings and wood panelled walls, giving the space an Art Deco feel. It’s on this floor you’ll find the gym, where 24-hour access for members comes as standard.

Higher still, Altitude, the rooftop restaurant and bar, is open to hotel guests for breakfast, and then members have exclusive run of the place after that. For sky-high cocktails, a Baja Californian menu from chef Joost Bijster and a chilled-out Balearic soundtrack, it’s hard to beat. Especially when you throw a swimming pool into the mix.

Members will also have exclusive access to The Design Studio from 8am to 6pm, a co-working space on the ground floor which while catering to business needs, is equally designed as an environment to harbour flair and creativity with big sofas and a bar. It’s here that exclusive members’ events will take place, from panel discussions to artistic pop-ups, live performances and wellness workshops.

Pavilion Club

64 Knightsbridge, Knightsbridge, SW1

pavilion.club

Think of Knightsbridge and you’re likely to conjure up images of grand department stores and even grander hotels. But refined members’ clubs? Less so. That’s all about to change, though, with the arrival of Pavilion. Tucked away next to the Mandarin Oriental, this latest opening marks the first private members’ club from the group, who also run refined business clubs in Kensington and the City, and aim to change the way Londoners work and play.

A clever combination of private office spaces and beautifully designed lounges, bars and terraces, with membership £150 a month and private offices from £2,200, there’s a lot to like here. Firstly, the location – not many members’ clubs can say their roof terrace offers panoramic views over Hyde Park, with power breakfasts and long lunches punctuated by the occasional passing horse. With its barbecue pit, fully stocked bar and canopy of lush greenery, this is set to be the beating heart of the club. Then there’s the food. Pavilion have appointed Michelin-starred chef Tom Kerridge into the kitchen, his first time collaborating with a members’ club, to create a seasonal all-day dining menu and it doesn’t disappoint. Deceptively

simple, each of the dishes champion leading British suppliers, whether it’s the dressed Cornish crab with radish and apple or the venison chilli with lime crème fraiche. The menu has been designed as a range of sharing platters and bowls, all the better for swapping big ideas over.

The interiors are no less impressive. Designed by Russell Sage Studio, the team behind The Goring and The Cadogan Belmond Hotel, they’re opulent without being showy – think velvet tasselled stools, ruby red meeting rooms and chinoiserie wallpaper. There are also plenty of touches that hark back to the building’s history. Originally built for the London & County Bank back in 1884, Sage has echoed the venue’s first decades of glory through timber inlays, mosaic floor tiling and traces of copper and brass ironmongery, all mingling with leafy planters and rattan furniture to create a space that perfectly marries modern style with art deco accents. If this is the future of business, it’s looking bright.

The Conduit

6 Langley Street, Covent Garden, WC2

theconduit.com

When The Conduit in Mayfair closed last autumn, it came as a surprise to many. After all, the private members’ club had only opened two years previously. And yet, it is back, welcoming its 3,000-plus members to a new site on Langley Street in WC2 in August. “Covent Garden is a really good metaphor for The Conduit because it’s a trading hub and it has entrepreneurship and culture,” explains CCO Paul van Zyl, who co-founded the club with financier Nicholas Hamilton. “It’s a logical place to be.”

The club is founded on the belief that by bringing together a collaborative community it can accelerate solutions to the world's greatest challenges. Anyone is invited to apply for membership (£1,800 per annum, £1,200 for under-33s), as long as they’re passionate about positive social change. Judging by The Conduit’s ambassadors – which include writer and broadcaster Afua Hirsch, journalist Razia Iqbal and June Sarpong OBE – the club is off to a flying start.

These admirable values feed into everything at the club, from the Russell Sage Studio decor to the cuisine. “We sourced goods from artisans around the world, such as tiles from South Africa, baskets from Swaziland, while the food and beverage supply chain pushes the boundaries in terms of sustainability,” van Zyl explains. The club’s kitchen is one of the first to adopt a zero singleuse plastic policy and the menu at both the public-facing restaurant and the members’ rooftop restaurant and terrace is 75% vegetarian.

Across the six floors, areas have been designated for members to meet and engage in networking; there’s also a bookshop and a podcast studio. The focus is on both a face-to-face and digital programme of events, which in the past has seen industry leaders and Nobel Prize winners such as Christiane Amanpour and Al Gore give exclusive talks.

But it’s not all work and no play. Wine pairing evenings and culinary tastings are on the agenda and The Conduit will be bringing back its popular chef programme, which has previously hosted Massimo Bottura, Søren Westh and Claudette Zepeda. Yoga and dance classes are also in the pipeline.

“In order to create a sustainable world, you have to sustain yourself. This means building a network, forming relationships and experiencing joy and comfort,” van Zyl says.

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