Clapham is to get its first private members club - one of only a handful south of the river- in the former Arding & Hobbs department store.
The £120 a month Arding Rooms venue near Clapham Junction is aimed at professionals and families in the area and due to open by May.
A restaurant, bar, event spaces and co-working spaces will occupy the third floor of the spectacular grade II listed retail landmark which has been closed since 2020.
Features of the 115 year old Edwardian Baroque building that have been retained under a huge reinvention by developers W.RE London include the central escalators and a stained glass domed atrium.
Other facilities in the building include a Third Space gym and a roof terrace.
Rupert Dean, CEO of operators x+why said many people in the local area were still working from home much of the time and needed an escape from “sitting at the kitchen table surrounded by the dog and the cats.”
He added: “I really like the idea that if you come back from a later meeting in central London you can just walk in and you should know at least one person directly or by one degree of separation. It will be a place where you can network to get to know people in your area.”
The space is currently undergoing a fit-out costing in the “low single digit millions” before opening in the late Spring.
The club will be open from breakfast to late night drinks though the exact licence hours have not yet been decided. Events will include DJ nights and whisky tastings.
Dean said it planned to open with around 350 members in a mix of age groups rising to a maximum of and 600.
Memberships will start range from £90 to £120 a month, with a £300 joining fee.
The explosion of new private members clubs in central London has made only a limited mark south of the river with only a handful, including Little House Balham, and Upstairs at The Department Store in Brixton, opening to date.
The current building opened in 1910 on the site of a previous Arding & Hobbs store that burned down.
It operated as Allders until the chain went into administration in 2005 when it was sub-divided with a branch of Debenhams as the main tenants until its collapse in 2020.
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