The Daily Telegraph - Saturday
Soho House ‘too busy’ to let new members in
SOHO HOUSE is shutting its doors to new members in London, New York and Los Angeles until at least the end of next year, after complaints that the clubs have become overcrowded.
In a letter to members, Nick Jones, the group’s founder, who is married to Kirsty Young, the BBC presenter, said he was “making sure our houses don’t feel too busy”.
He added: “For that reason, next year we’re closing the doors to new members across our houses in London, New York and Los Angeles, and will only be accepting members in locations where we have capacity.”
It follows criticism that by letting in too many members the clubs have been losing their exclusivity.
Soho House, which was launched in 1995 from a single townhouse in Greek Street in Soho, London, has set itself apart from traditional private members’ clubs by focusing on attracting a creative clientele rather than bankers and financial advisers. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex had their first date at its Dean Street Townhouse restaurant in London and the Duchess held her hen night at the group’s Soho Farmhouse retreat in the Cotswolds, Gloucs.
Soho House has nine clubs in London, three in New York and four in Los Angeles. In London, an annual membership costs £2,750, which includes access to all of its clubs around the world.
Between October last year and October this year it admitted 21 per cent more members. By October 1 it had 184,542 members, up from nearly 118,000 two years earlier.
Videos on TikTok have attracted thousands of likes for posts that criticise the clubs. An Instagram account, Soho House Memes, has attracted more than 100,000 followers with posts such as one captioned: “Love it when £200 leaves my bank account then I’m told to wait four hours for a table at 3pm.”
The group has recently softened its approach to excluding bankers from its venues.
Mr Jones told The Telegraph last year: “The world is constantly changing. It doesn’t matter what job you do, as long as you’re interesting – and nice.”