Members-only clubs alive and kicking

IN AN AGE that is increasingly anti-elitist, and increasingly cash-strapped, London's members-only clubs are somehow weathering the storm. Some are even booming - and this is happening partly at the expense of the capital's more overpriced restaurants and the huge music-based super-clubs.

The main media haunts of Blacks, Groucho and Soho House continue to be in demand, the latter two partly because of their deal-making potential and the screening-room, restaurant and conference facilities they offer.

Full memberships are closed to all but the most persistent, and/or well connected and even these can take many months - for example, at Soho House and its sister venue, Notting Hill's Electric House, membership now numbers just under 3,000 with a waiting list of well over 1,000. Fees alone bring in more than £1.5m a year.

According to Soho House chief executive and founder Nick Jones, it's all about maintaining the vibe. 'That's why we keep adding things each year - Soho House Cannes, Edinburgh, the boat, Babington House, the Electric and now we have Soho House New York with 1,000 on that waiting list after five months,' he says.

'As well as a restaurant and bar, it also has a cinema, a pool and a spa. It opens at 7am - in London we have an 8am opening - so they're not night-clubby venues like most members' places. There's a lot going on in the daytime - meals and people with laptops and various little meetings. Of 500 people who joined nine years ago, we've still got 470 with us - the other 30 are probably dead or in prison.'

Other member venues are continuing to thrive despite the economic slowdown. In the first quarter of 2003 Pangaer, Aura and Momo spin-off Sketch all opened in the West End. (Pangaer is about to reopen after briefly closing for another six-figure refit.) They have just been joined by Privee in Jermyn Street, down the road from the old jetset haunt Tramp.

Chinawhite, the music-themed haunt of Madonna and Prince Andrew, opened in 1998 and its revenue has increased each year. Turnover is thought to be more than £2m a year. The 10 Room, Attica, Elysium and Abigail's Party have backgrounds almost as long.

Chinawhite spokesman Kate Bispham said: 'We were one of the very first places to offer members a good place to eat and drink, a place that then became a nightclub later in the evening.

'At Chinawhite we've been careful with our membership - our capacity is only 400 - but we have seen profits grow every year and we are now into our fifth year.

'In 2001, we opened the Mao Room in Ibiza and that's doing well, too, but we are a bit cautious about expanding too quickly - we have a really low staff turnover and we don't want to lose that. It's our family vibe that keeps us special.'

One members-only club regular said: 'Although the membership of these clubby places is often closed, the reality is that if someone looks all right - or if they're female - they will probably get in anyway on most nights.

'These places have become so aspirational for clubbers - I mean, who would really prefer some anonymous super-club full of sweating students to a members-only place?'

There is also the comfort aspect - even the more youthful members-only bars have security guards and a selection of fine wines and cocktails as well as a quiet room or two where business can be talked and meals taken - all of which is much more civilised, and productive, than taking one's chances in the noisy pint-spilling rugby scrums of most West End and City bars.

The current economic slowdown has had some effect on the haunts of the would-be exclusives, however. At some of the younger places, the membership fees are now less than £100 a year with some founder members being asked to put up less than £40 for 12 months' membership.

For those who have the inclination, and the insider connections, this might just be the right time to rack up a few more memberships because, in future, prices can only go up.