Becoming a member at Inness, one of upstate New York’s buzziest new openings, is an enticing prospect. Devised as an “intimate country retreat”, with two pools, a couple of tennis courts and a golf course overlooking the Catskill Mountains, it is created to have “enough gravitational pull that [it] could be a place you literally don’t have to leave for days”, says Leigh Salem, of Post Company, which was involved with its design.
While for some, being trapped in a cosmic bubble, however tastefully designed, might sound like a nightmare, it’s one many are drawn to. Members’ clubs are on the rise globally. Soho House grew its membership by 16 per cent year on year to 204,028, and has more openings slated to boost its current 44 Houses, including a 250-acre property in Rhinebeck, New York. An outpost of Singapore’s 1880 due to open in Hong Kong, and 5 Hertford Street proprietor Robin Birley’s first opening in New York later this year are just two other signs of members’ clubs’ rude heath. “More money is being invested in the sector than at any time in history,” says Liam Bailey, global head of research at estate agency Knight Frank.
For the top clubs, membership is competitive (Soho House & Co has a membership waiting list of around 111,000), annual fees are high (The Ned London is £3,700 annually, plus a £1,000 joining fee; Inness is $2,200), and the acceptance committee discerning (the Bathing Corporation of Southampton is notoriously tricky to pass the “who’s who” litmus test). In time-honoured tradition, it is a fast track to both stake and signpost your place in society (perhaps with a branded cap or tote to really signal your allegiance). But while the chosen few are playing padel at Brisas in the Hamptons, taking an ice bath at The Club by Bamford, or golfing at Gleneagles, there’s also another reason to feel smug: for local members, the several thousands of dollars or pounds flying out of your account in membership fees might also be boosting your house price.
A new report out next week by global estate agency Knight Frank finds that members’ clubs “have a significant impact on housing markets”. Figures from Knight Frank’s research found that demand for properties within 15 minutes of certain members’ clubs was more than twice the average for the area, with more than double the number of buyers registering in the areas closest to selected members clubs, compared with adjacent areas. Houses within a mile of clubs sold faster (by 2.5 weeks) compared with similar properties five miles further away.
Theo James-Wright, an agent with The Buying Solution, spotlights the draw of Goodwood club, in Sussex (home to the Dukes of Richmond since 1697, and which last weekend held its annual vintage festival, Goodwood Revival), and notes that Beaverbook — the chic Surrey hotel with a membership scheme — has boosted the appeal of the neighbouring villages of Cobham and Oxshott. In Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire, his colleague Harry Gladwin says that house prices can be at least 20 per cent higher in the villages around Kingham, such as Churchill and Broadwell, in part due to the ease of access to The Club at Bamford. He adds that around Estelle Manor, villages have also benefited from what he calls the “Estelle effect”. “Previously, many top-end buyers and A-listers would have gravitated towards Chipping Norton due to Soho Farmhouse and Daylesford,” he says, “but now the villages around Burford, Lechlade and Ramsden have become more of a mecca.”
Likewise, over in the Hamptons, with clubs that range from the prestigious Maidstone to the A-lister-friendly Bathing Corporation of Southampton, “proximity to a club or amenities definitely has the potential to enhance the value of properties”, says Jonathan Miller, president and chief executive of Miller Samuel Inc, real estate appraisers and consultants in New York State. He estimates an uplift of around 10 per cent in sale prices — a considerable sum, now that 16 per cent of all transactions in the Hamptons are properties for $5mn or higher — “the second highest market share in history”, he says, citing a company report.
Sellers increasingly choose to list their nearest club in the particulars: a five-bedroom detached house for sale in Sutton for £1.5mn, for example, is described as being “close to Estelle Manor” – before any mention of its garden. Bailey found that around 5 per cent of those selling homes worth upwards of £1mn chose to mention a local club, even if they lived 25 miles away, and some instances of mentions at 50 miles away. In the Hamptons, Miller says sellers also marketed their house with a mention of a club, but with a more realistic radius of “up to 10-15 miles away”.
Jessica Parkhouse, 36, co-founder of hospitality PR agency Yarrow, recently moved from Bath to Midsomer Norton in Somerset. “It’s not a hugely popular area, so we questioned the high house prices. The agent told us that its proximity to Babington [House, the first countryside location in the Soho House chain] was one reason keeping the prices high.” She and her partner joined when they moved. “There are networking events and movie screenings; I use the gym and enjoy a cocktail in the bar, which, as much as I love a country pub, I do enjoy.”
The draw — and the premium attached to these clubs — goes beyond a Roman bath-inspired spa and lavish place to sip a London-priced coffee. “The basic crux is tied up with social identity theory,” says neuroscientist Dr Rachel Taylor. “People need to have a definition of where they are in society and humans fundamentally need to feel like they belong. We hear a lot of narrative about independence and doing things on our own, but we’re a social species.” For most of us, she continues, “if we’re not part of a group, then a stress response is sent out by the basal ganglia [a group of subcortical nuclei in the brain]. We can’t survive on our own, so if it senses that we’re not part of a group, or not valued within that group, our brain thinks we’re in danger.”
For some, wanting to belong to a tribe is intensified when moving into a new area. “There are a lot of examples of people who move to the country and then think, ‘Oh god, I’m in the middle of nowhere’, and want that feeling of community and support,” says Arthur Lintell, head of Notting Hill sales at Knight Frank. “These hubs are places to meet like-minded people, and they cater to a life that they’re already used to.”
The clubs work hard to create a sense of familiarity, from interior decoration (often done by a big name prized for their individuality) which resonates wherever you are in the world, to a receptionist who knows your name — and even in some instances, a menu that’s the same in all outposts. It’s something our brains value, according to Taylor. “We find it reassuring because we already know it,” she says. “You get a hit of dopamine from repeating familiar experiences.” So comforting is the former that you can buy many of the interior furnishings you see in different Soho Houses — the hexagonal armchair from 180 House, or a curved linen headboard from Soho House Nashville — from the brand’s interiors retail offshoot, Soho Home.
But, says Taylor, despite all this familiar comfort, “it’s not great for your brain to get into too much of a rut. You need to [factor] in disruption, which is exactly what these places work hard to avoid.” The “best” aspect is also the worst: “You’re surrounded by people who all think and act the same way.” Taken to its extreme, “you get the group approval and all the nice feelings that come with that, but if you join a club, you sign up to living your life by their rules. There’s a danger that you turn a bit Stepford Wives.”
Some — typically non-members, and most likely who have lived in a place for generations rather than those who have moved to the area — worry about the Stepford Wives homogenisation of the locality: a pristine, white picket fence idealised version of the countryside. I spoke to some villagers in the vicinity of a sprawling hotel-meets-locals’ club who complained that it was swallowing up and destroying the very identity of their village – which, ironically, was listed in the Domesday Book as an “independent farmstead”. Miller says this is less of a problem in the US (where there is more land), not least because of the amenities they provide – and, of course, the boost in house prices.
The complaint of über-gentrification — which members clubs moving in can accelerate or at least accentuate — is less of a problem in city centres, where members’ clubs are often plentiful. Simon Barry of Harrods Estates says that for some of his clients being within walking distance of, say, 5 Hertford Street or Annabel’s in Mayfair is “non-negotiable”, but on the whole, Bailey says members’ clubs don’t have the same effect on city house prices. “Most people don’t want to live next to them,” he says.
But move out beyond the Central Business District and the data shows an interesting parallel to the countryside clubs. In London, Bailey talks about the “Jaego’s House-effect”, referencing the chic family club in Kensal Rise, founded in 2022 by hospitality entrepreneur Charlie Gardiner, but also the similar impact of the family club Cloud Twelve in Notting Hill. The former, a panacea of pleasing design (artwork on the wall by Instagram-favourite artist Sophie Harding) and healthy lunch menus (salmon poke bowls for adults in a light-filled restaurant), includes a certain number of hours of childcare and access to endorphin-raising children’s play equipment, including floor-to-ceiling soft play (in muted grey, rather than a leisure centre attack-on-the-senses colour scheme).
“People are talking about being close to Jaego’s House in their sales particulars,” Bailey says. A four-bedroom Victorian terrace currently on the market for £1.15mn with Marsh&Parsons mentions its extensive refurbishment by a RIBA award-winning architect, as well as the fact that it is next door to Jaego’s. But Bailey says that even people who live up to a 30-minute walk away mention the club. “That’s out to Willesden and beyond.”
Gardiner has recently opened a second outpost — Jesse’s House in Parsons Green. It is already at full capacity: on an early September morning, it feels full to bursting with parents eking out the last days of the summer holiday childcare. Gardiner has an expansion plan that includes two more London family clubs in 2025. Living near a members’ club is “the trend no one knew they wanted but now everyone needs,” Bailey says. “It has hit the zeitgeist.”
This article has been amended since its original publication
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