Soho House takes over The Old Clare Hotel ahead of a permanent Sydney location
The British private members’ club for the world’s creative class pops up for South by Southwest ahead of a permanent house for Crown Street.
It is undoubtedly one of the worst-kept secrets, but after years of speculation Soho House finally has confirmed it is opening its first Australian house on Sydney’s Crown Street.
“Sydney has been something we’ve been looking at for a while,” says Dominique Bellas, group membership director of the British private members club, who has just landed in Sydney from London. “So it’s very exciting that we can now say it’s official.
“And I know it’s the worst-kept secret. We did find a building in Melbourne, but then that fell through.” The proposed South Yarra location’s planning approval was knocked back by local council and residents.
“But we can officially say, yes, we are opening in Sydney. Sydney’s got such a thriving creative community and scene that it was a bit of a no-brainer.”
Soho House was founded in 1995 by British entrepreneur Nick Jones on London’s Greek Street in the city’s creative hub of Soho, surrounded by London’s theatre and nightlife district. Key to Soho House’s success is its strict membership policy that has safeguarded the club’s cool cred for nearly 30 years across 42 international house locations, including its latest opening in Mexico City.
It remains the social hub for the world’s creative class, after being established as an antidote to the buttoned-up, elitist private members clubs of London at the time, which were geared towards the business and finance crowd.
Creativity matters more than net worth at Soho House: in the era before LinkedIn and Instagram, it often meant city boys borrowing the identities of their “less successful” artistic friends to obtain membership.
Aside from buzzy, well-designed spaces, and a consistent hospitality concept of destination seen-to-be-seen restaurants and bars, the strength of the proposition is its closely guarded membership mix that is tightly curated by a local membership committee specific to each city.
“Back in 1995, you could tell from the way someone dressed who was a creative and who was in more of a corporate environment,” says Bellas, who has worked for Soho House for 11 years. “The corporates were in suits and ties and the creators were a bit more casual. Nick is quite a casual, casually dressed person and I think he felt that a lot of the places in London at the time felt very stuffy. He wanted to create a really relaxing space because where the first house was, right in the heart of Soho, there were a lot of creatives, a lot of his friends were creative, so it became a place, a home for them.”
The new home for Sydney’s creative class will be at 256 Crown Street, a stone’s throw from Oxford Street, but the opening date is not confirmed. The redevelopment of the building – slated to feature five floors of member-only facilities including a spa, gym, lounge, bar and restaurant – is still subject to council approval.
“In terms of facilities we are still working with our developer and our landlord and the local council on the ground,” Bellas says.
“In terms of the area, it is obviously known for entertainment and I think there’s a bit of a similarity to the Greek Street space that we had in the sense of that same district. So I think it’s an interesting neighbourhood from that perspective.” She adds: “I think for the LGBTQI+ community, it’s become quite a hub – so it’s got lots of synergies in terms of our brand values.”
In the meantime, The Old Clare Hotel in Chippendale has welcomed Soho House’s first pop-up Sydney residency this week to coincide with South by Southwest.
“It’s been a year in the making,” Bellas says. “When we found out that South By was coming we thought it’d be a great opportunity to support them and do something.”
Until Sunday, The Old Clare Soho House Residency will be open every day from 11am to 4pm for member drop-ins in addition to a handful of special daily events bookable on their app, including Friday’s One Night Only Dinner with the Three Blue Ducks featuring dishes inspired by their houses around the world. Saturday evening’s closing party, Discoteca, will feature lighting installations by Mandylights, creators of Dark Spectrum and Vivid Sydney, with Pretty Girl on the decks.
Soho House’s membership structure has always included the option of an Every House membership (across all global houses for frequent flyers) or a Local House membership (to one nominated house closest to the member). To draw in peripatetic creatives who live in places where they don’t have a physical space, seven years ago House came up with the idea of the Cities Without Houses membership.
The aim is to unite like-minded people and offer access to event programs that re-create the Soho House experience in lieu of a physical house.
“Nick is dyslexic, so he’s very literal, which is why we’ve got the name – it’s a bit like Doctors Without Borders,” Bellas says of the program, which may include a preview dinner at Melbourne’s Heide Museum of Modern Art or lunch on the beach at Byron Bay curated by chef Shannon Bennett.
The Cities Without Houses program has been running monthly in Sydney and Melbourne for the past seven years and costs $4750 annually or $2285 for under-27s. “We say we’ve been dating cities to see whether they like us or we like them,” Bellas says, laughing. “The events have been a way for us to bring a bit of Soho House to those members, connect them within that city, but also really champion and support creative things that are happening in every city.”
Sydney’s Cities Without Houses members automatically will become founders of Soho House Sydney when it opens.
“We’re really looking to represent all ages, all demographics,” Bellas says of the prospective membership mix, “bringing together people that maybe don’t hang out as much. In lots of cities, people stay within their circles.”
They are also in the process of expanding their local membership committee, which meets four times a year to vote on prospective members. (Applications are strengthened by a recommendation from one or more existing members.)
“When people say to me, ‘What makes a good Soho House?’ a big part of it is the people,” Bellas says. “You can have a beautiful restaurant, you can have a beautiful hotel, but you walk in and if it is very stiff or the atmosphere’s not quite right, it ruins it.”
In keeping with Soho House’s legacy privacy policy, don’t expect to see any of its festivities on your social media feed.
Staff members are vigilant when it comes to enforcing the no-camera policy – whether you are trying to snap a celebrity in the banquet behind you or just your smashed avo on toast.
“The Old Clare Hotel will follow every other house rule,” Bellas says of the selfie ban. “Our spaces are meant to be private, and that’s why people feel like they can be relaxed because A, someone’s not taking a photo of them, and B, I think we’ve all been at dinner next to a pair of people that are taking 50 photos of their food and then trying to do selfies. It is a bit annoying really.”
The new Sydney location will look like every other Soho House. The signature layered, eclectic yet homely interiors will be conceived by the in-house global design team that has franchised the Soho House look to its clubs and hotels around the world. They also are selling it under the Soho Home brand: check out Net-a-Porter for your own crystal cocktail coupes or fringed velvet cushions.
“Nick is still very involved in all the design,” Bellas says. “He’s involved in the areas he really enjoys now.” In November last year Jones officially stepped down from the day-to-day running of the business after a cancer diagnosis, appointing Andrew Carnie as chief executive. But as Bellas reiterates, Jones remains at the heart of every house.
“Nick’s just turned 60, and those things that happen in your life personally make you question what you’re doing, and he’s able to spend more time with his family, but he’s still Nick,” she says, smiling, “He’s still very involved.” As any world-class host would be.
