Soho House (club)

Soho House is a chain restaurant. The original location is at 40 Greek Street, Soho, London. The company now operates clubs, hotels and venues around the world, and in 2015 changed from SOHO House Group to Soho House & Co. Membership is selective and members are drawn mainly from the media, arts and fashion industries.

The company filed for an initial public offering in 2021, and went public in July 2021, trading under the name Membership Collective Group. The organisation will use the money raised to pay down debt and finance further expansion.

History and ownership

Nick Jones (Soho House founder and previous managing director) sold 80% of the club to British high-street tycoon Richard Caring in 2008. On 13 January 2012, the ''Financial Times'' announced that 60% of Soho House Group had been acquired by the US billionaire Ron Burkle, through his investment fund Yucaipa for approx. £250m, with founder Nick Jones retaining 10% and Richard Caring (Caprice Holdings) 30%. In September 2015, the company’s high leverage and limited free cash flow was under scrutiny by fixed income investors. However, company profit potential has been affected by growth in new clubs.

In November 2022, Nick Jones stepped down from day-to-day running of the business, citing a recent cancer diagnosis and recovery, and appointed Andrew Carnie as CEO.

Clubs

As of 2021, Soho House operates 28 clubs worldwide. Soho House announced that they will be launching 6 new houses in 2021, including locations in Rome, Paris, Austin, London, Tel Aviv and Canouan. A house in Mexico City will open in 2023, the company's first Latin American location.

Membership

Soho House membership policies focus on creativity "above net worth and job titles" with "studied resistance to ostentation... ndcultivated status signifiers," and favour moral values over financial success ("several execs were banned because they were thought to be abusive to their assistants"). In June 2015, Soho House had over 50,000 members and a global waiting list of over 30,000. In July 2021, Soho House had 119,000 members across 27 houses in 10 countries.

Activities

On 13 August 2017, the film ''Tulip Fever'' (starring Alicia Vikander) was first screened at London's Soho House.

Incidents and controversies

In 2002, the London branch of the club made headlines as Iris Law, the two-year-old toddler daughter of actor Jude Law and his then wife, actress and designer Sadie Frost, was briefly hospitalised after accidentally consuming a part of an ecstasy tablet she found on the floor of Soho House while attending a child's birthday party. The child was ultimately unharmed.

In 2009, more than 80 residents signed an appeal by a neighbourhood association against allowing Soho House to move into the top two floors of Luckman Plaza in West Hollywood, near Los Angeles. The opening of the West Hollywood location also drew opposition from Beverly Hills Mayor Nancy Krasne.

On 9 December 2010, American swimsuit designer Sylvie Cachay was found murdered in room 20 of the Manhattan's branch. Nicholas Brooks, her boyfriend of six months, was convicted of her second degree murder and sentenced to 25 years to life.

In Amsterdam, the Netherlands, an attempt to open a new club also met protest. An Amsterdam House nonetheless opened in August 2018, as well as a second house in Barcelona.

In April 2021, a third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Berlin led to rising infection numbers, critically overburdened intensive care units in local hospitals, and closure of cultural venues for a citywide lockdown. Bottega Veneta received criticism for holding maskless indoor dance parties at Berlin's Soho House for artists and celebrities flown in from around the world. Though Soho House staff complained about the lack of safety measures and regulatory guidelines, management has remained silent and implied that staff was not telling the truth. Berlin's Soho House staff have stood up to the company's efforts to reframe what happened as "spontaneous", clarifying that the party spaces were booked in advance. Additionally, club members have made their dissatisfaction and disappointment known with some considering ending their membership; police investigated the matter.

In popular culture

Soho House New York was featured in season 6 of the TV series ''Sex and the City'' in an episode titled "Boy Interrupted". In this episode, Samantha Jones (Kim Cattrall) pretends to be a member by using a stolen membership card.

In 2022, Soho House was mentioned in the Netflix drama ''Inventing Anna'', where the main character, con artist Anna Delvey, when asked if she was rejected by Soho House in episode two, she replied: "I’d rather hang out at a McDonald's or start my own club and reject their members."

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{{Authority control
1995 establishments in England
Organizations established in 1995
Clubs and societies in London
Clubs and societies in Canada
Clubs and societies in Germany
Clubs and societies in the United States
Greek Street
2021 initial public offerings
Private members' clubs