Members’ clubs: ‘It’s adapt or die’

Across the globe members’ clubs must “adapt or die” and find new ways to appeal to the 21st century drinks enthusiast. Luckily the new breed is as creative as they are exclusive, and are attracting a different kind of drinker.

Classic cocktails served at M Den

**This feature was first published in the February 2016 edition of The Spirits Business 

There was a time when the covert world of members’ clubs was reserved for the elite of society – patrons hunting for the top hedonistic haunts in the globe’s most high-profile cities.

London, New York, Tokyo, Paris and Dubai all boast a sea of suitable venues soaked in luxury, prestige and exclusivity. But those at the helm are steering their ships on a new course to ensure their survival in the cut-throat world of the on-trade. While members’ clubs today still share a promise of exclusivity they are no exception to the laws of evolution: as with all regular bars and clubs, it’s adapt or die.

Head over to London Victoria and you’ll find M Den (part of the recently opened M Venue in Victoria Street) nestled among a myriad of luxury brand head offices, including Jimmy Choo, Tom Ford, Moët Hennessy, Amex and Rolls-Royce – the list goes on. These names exude opulence and their employees are just the target audience M Den is hoping to attract. Though forget the preppy, leather sofa-clad gentlemen’s clubs of the 1980s – M Den offers high-flying business professionals an all-in-one 21st-century den equipped to tackle both work and play.

“What I’m trying to do is slightly different,” explains Martin Williams, founder of M Den, “so we’ve integrated a members’ bar lounge within the normal multifaceted venue.

A ‘home from home’

“There are a lot of people nowadays who work on foot and are constantly flitting between meetings and entertaining clients – a sort of mobile entertaining culture. We’ve tried to create a home-from-home cross-section of businesses with a sense of belonging for our guests, who will come in for breakfast, have meetings and then return in the evening for dinner and cocktails.”

A similar ambience has been mirrored across the Irish Sea, in Residence Members Club, Dublin. One of just a handful of members’ clubs in the city, Residence prides itself on offering a flexible environment to its clients. “The business professionals market is growing,” acknowledges Juba Paridi, the club’s operations manager.

“The majority of our clients are professional business people who like the idea of using our space as a second office. It’s a nice alternative to cold, unwelcoming hotel meeting rooms – they’re guaranteed a private space with good service, good drinks and good food.”

M Den Victoria

‘Inverted snobbery’

However, there are some establishments, such as Soho House in London, that have been accused in the past of ‘inverted snobbery’, shunning guests who disregard their casual dress code. Soho House’s rules state: “The Houses foster a non-corporate atmosphere. To preserve this casual environment, members should refrain from corporate entertaining and wearing overtly corporate attire at the House.”

Of course, when forking out sizeable amounts of money for a membership, rules are to be expected – after all, members’ clubs were built to stand out from your typical watering hole. For Magazin in Sydney, however, the rules are a little more laid back. “There are two rules,” says founder Martin O’Sullivan. “No photos and no dickheads.” He describes how Australia’s liquor laws were reformed eight years ago to allow small licensed venues to open, in addition to permitting bartenders, waiters and chefs to open a small bar of their own. Spotting a gap in the Sydney market, O’Sullivan and his business partner of 20 years, Belinda Lai, were inspired to bring a new niche of socialising to the scene.

“We decided with Magazin to open something quite different: a modern, architecturally designed, table service-focused, clean-cut venue,” he describes.

Discreet service

“The appeal for Sydney is discretion, service and a cocktail-focused environment. The older style members’ clubs of Sydney are based around sports, and RSLs [the Returned and Services League], which are great and have a place, but they focus on retirees, gambling, entertainment, food and beer. So the experience and generations are completely different.”

Attaining membership at Magazin offers an extra dose of uniqueness in that a person must be nominated either by an existing member or one of the owners. It creates a new level of responsibility among guests who must vouch for other members, as well as creating a small community of consumers seeking similar experiences.

The Vaults – the Scotch Malt Whisky Society’s Leith venue

Adapting the offer

As members’ clubs have adapted, so have their offerings. Take the Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS), for example, a historic group dating back to 1983. The SMWS serves a core purpose: to bottle and sell whisky from single casks without blending to offer members a distinctive whisky experience. “We’ve evolved from a different place from your standard members’ clubs and I think our individuality is all rooted back to the unique thing we do, which is whisky we source and bottle ourselves,” says Kai Ivalo, director, SMWS.

Consumer interest in whisky has exploded over the last few years and to ensure expectations are met, the SMWS took a radical turn in 2015 when it permanently opened its Edinburgh members-only bar in Queen Street to the general public for the first time. Described as part of an “on-going exploration”, the decision came about following numerous successful open days and will hopefully entice new members to the club.

“As with most private members clubs, there’s that dilemma of wanting to create a feeling of somewhere special yet approachable, so it’s about trying to find that balance,” Ivalo explains. “Nowadays we see more people interested in the finer things in life, in the experience. They have the income to enjoy those things and so we tend to see what we might refer to as ‘emerging enthusiasts’ – they’re not purely into whisky, they might be into a range of things from fine dining to whisky cocktails.”

In comparison with other members clubs, the SMWS is by far one of the more affordable establishments to be part of. Individual membership costs £122 in the first year and includes a welcome pack featuring three exclusive cask samples and a member’s journal. Subsequent membership renewal is £61.50 per year. That’s in comparison with other, more traditional members’ clubs, whose memberships tend to start around the £800-£1,000 mark.

But despite the steep prices of some of the top-end establishments on the market, there is no denying the appeal of these venues is on the rise, and a raft of new, younger clientele are snapping up the benefits members’ clubs have to offer. As recently as 10 years ago, the mean age range sat between 50 and 60, while today this has drastically dropped to an average age bracket of around 30 to 40-years-old.

With a new wave of customers queuing to be part of this high-status society, the future for members’ clubs looks set to be a prosperous one.