{"id":642102,"date":"2025-12-19T11:29:44","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T11:29:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/642102\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:29:44","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T11:29:44","slug":"the-history-of-private-members-clubs-in-the-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/642102\/","title":{"rendered":"The history of private members’ clubs in the city"},"content":{"rendered":"

– Advertisement –\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Soho House has, after a few false dawns, now officially opened<\/a> in the former Granada Studios building.<\/p>\n

\u201cBringing Soho House to Manchester feels like a natural step,\u201d said Local Head of Memberships, Paris Armani. \u201cThe city\u2019s cultural impact has always been huge, and right now there\u2019s a fresh energy that makes it one of the most exciting places to be. The House will be a place for members to connect with that spirit, to meet, collaborate, and be part of what\u2019s next for Manchester.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe swanky settings of Soho House<\/p>\n

But long before the Water Street site was a glimmer in the eye of the global brand, Manchester had places for people to connect, meet, collaborate and shape the city.<\/p>\n

A history of private members\u2019 clubs in Manchester<\/p>\n

So here\u2019s a brief history of private members\u2019 clubs in Manchester, from the days of Victorian mill owners<\/a> through the socialisation of sport via the city\u2019s uneasy relationship with organised crime.<\/p>\n

Membership cards at the ready, please. If your name\u2019s not down, you\u2019re not coming in.<\/p>\n

St James Club<\/p>\n

\"\"St James Club<\/p>\n

The oldest members\u2019 club in Manchester, still standing strong today, is the St James Club. Perched at the top of King Street since 2001, the club itself has existed in various names and locations since 1825, a time when Manchester was still in the grip of great change, much like it is now, as St James Club Chairman, Rowan Stone, explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the Industrial Revolution concluded, the streets became punctuated by the corner turrets of mills, and the air of coal fires filled the smoggy streets,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt must have appeared like a very different place to city dwellers of that time. The clubs of those times provided a sanctuary for business owners like cotton merchants and printers. <\/p>\n

\u201cTwo hundred years on, and we see a more modern revolution in Manchester as it becomes a powerhouse of the UK, with tech, finance and the sciences just some of the current industries of Manchester.<\/p>\n

\"\"Sumptuous settings of St James Club<\/p>\n

\u201cJust a couple of decades ago, Members of our club were radically repurposing the mills of that time into housing. Now, they are dwarfed by the skyscrapers<\/a> we\u2019ll become known for. So much has changed in two hundred years, yet so much repeats. The club continues to provide a sanctuary and a place away from the hectic revolution of Manchester, while itself evolving to meet the needs of an ever-changing city.\u201d<\/p>\n

So it seems the more things change, the more they stay the same.<\/p>\n

But what purpose did these clubs serve outside of the obvious benefits of business networking and a breath of fresh, fog-free air?<\/p>\n

Manchester Tennis and Racquet Club<\/p>\n

\"\"Manchester Tennis and Racquet Club<\/p>\n

Over the Irwell in the Blackfriars area of Salford sits the Manchester Tennis and Racquet Club. Established in 1876, and celebrating its 150th anniversary next year, it continues to serve a function similar to that of the St James Club, a sanctuary from the working world outside.<\/p>\n

One difference, however, is that its home, now Grade II listed, was built with not only a dining room and bar but courts for racquet sports, and in doing so provided that very Victorian mix of sport and sociability that is now more likely enjoyed in Pure Gyms and running clubs<\/a>. So-called \u2018Third Spaces\u2019 are becoming a growing need, especially for young people, and MTRC has always provided that space, as General Manager Stella Heap explains.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always acted as a home from home for our members,\u201d she said. \u201cThey would often work or have businesses in the local area, so they\u2019d come here before lunch for an hour or so on the courts, then stay for lunch and go back to work after, or go home. Even now, when the students who come to Manchester search us out, I say, \u2018You\u2019ve got your student accommodation, and here you\u2019ve got somewhere else to go to as well.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"\"Manchester Tennis and Racquet Club<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t like the word \u2018private\u2019 because it makes people think they can\u2019t come and join, which of course they can. Anyone is welcome to come and try it out. Yes, you\u2019re supposed to have two sponsors \u2013 a proposal and a seconder \u2013 but if you move to Manchester, and you don\u2019t know anybody, how are you going to have a proposal and a seconder? So that\u2019s why we like people to come in and use the club.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you move to Manchester and come to one of these clubs, all of a sudden you\u2019ve got 100 new friends just like that. It\u2019s just such a nice, easy way of meeting people. You can\u2019t afford not to be inviting, and our members really do look after each other. All we say is you can discuss business anywhere in the club except the dining room. It\u2019s traditional but when people walk through the doors of the club, they like that aspect, and the smell of the place.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Circle Club<\/p>\n

By the turn of the millennium, the traditional industries of Manchester were either fading or had already vanished, and in their place began a new nexus of media and property players that needed their own home from home.<\/p>\n

\"\"The Circle Club<\/p>\n

Thus began The Circle Club in 2001. Opened off Barton Arcade by fashion stylist Dominic Apenteng and broadcaster Deepa Parekh, it was set out as a place for the new media of Manchester to descend upon and call their own, and for a time it was exactly that, as Confidentials owner, Manchester media stalwart and early member of the club, Mark Garner, explains.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a real appetite for it,\u201d he said. \u201cThe Commonwealth Games had a huge influence on the regeneration of Manchester, and part of that regeneration was the media, which was growing up in the Northern Quarter, led by the music scene and Tony Wilson, and they were all rough and ready clubs. Old media was coming to an end, the new media was coming forward with the internet, and so you had all these people coming around \u2013 including the property people who considered themselves part of the media, don\u2019t ask me why \u2013 so everybody drank out of the same cup.<\/p>\n

\"\"The Circle Club<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t remember the cost of it, but you had to go for an interview to make sure you passed as the media, and it was very exclusive \u2013 the top strata of people across the industries, not just the media. 80% are wannabes, but the reality is it\u2019s \u00a33000 in the pot, and the business model of these places is for people to be able to say they\u2019re a member, even if it\u2019s only for six months.\u201d<\/p>\n

That drive to be where the action is was something onetime regular Jonnie Gregory also found, especially at a time when it seemed like everyone in the social scene knew each other.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember first going in about 2009 when it was really, really popular. Everyone in Manchester used to go out in sort of the same groups; everyone knew everyone, and we only used to go to one place. It wasn\u2019t like Manchester now, where there are hundreds and hundreds of bars and clubs to choose from; you didn\u2019t have that many. So it was one of those places that the scene started to move to. It was one of those places that you\u2019d want to go to all the time. We used to go every single weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n

What caused The Circle Club to close?<\/p>\n

But something that had also plagued the glory days of the Hacienda eventually took root in The Circle Club, and spelt its eventual demise.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomething happened that has happened to every members\u2019 club of that type for the past 40 years,\u201d explained Garner. \u201cThe gangsters want to go. They go to the managers, frighten them to death, and they have to be let in.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt became particularly nasty at Circle Club,\u201d he continued. \u201cThe drugs and guns boys from Salford and Moss Side came in, and when the top guys are there, the lieutenants want to be there too \u2013 and the lieutenants cause problems.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a lot of testosterone in the air all the time, and the members noticed it,\u201d Garner said. \u201cNo self-respecting gangster will want to go to the St James Club, but if you have a trendy club, there are going to be gangsters.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a tragedy what happened,\u201d he added. \u201cThere was a genuine hunger for the Circle Club from everybody. It was an exciting time when we were all getting to know each other, and the three or four different business areas were starting to gel together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019d been to an awards ceremony, everybody went to the Circle Club afterwards and stayed until four or five in the morning,\u201d Garner recalled. \u201cIf you had a business meeting and wanted to impress somebody, you went there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t actually remember ever eating there \u2013 but I definitely did,\u201d he laughed. \u201cI once woke up at six o\u2019clock in the morning in a skip 20 yards down the road. Like I say, it was an exciting time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Will Soho House succeed in Manchester where others failed?<\/p>\n

\"SohoSoho House Manchester lounge with wooden floor, sofas and armchairs<\/p>\n

With Manchester now undoubtedly a more corporate, and some would argue more homogeneous landscape, does that mean the foundations are there for somewhere like Soho House to succeed where others didn\u2019t? Only if they attract the money, which Garner believes is not to be found in the pockets of media millennials.<\/p>\n

\u201cMedia people in Manchester currently don\u2019t have a load of expendable income; that big spending has disappeared, which is why the restaurants are in trouble; every month you\u2019re seeing places go under. Soho House needs to reach out to the regions, not just the city centre, media millennial demographics. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey need to get wealthy people in from Cheshire, for instance, to spend two nights there, going for a few dinners and dropping a few grand while they\u2019re at it, because those media people aren\u2019t a big enough demographic to pay the bills. It needs to broaden out and say, \u2018If you\u2019re a pig farmer from Blackpool and you can afford it, you\u2019re welcome\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

You can find out more about Soho House by clicking here<\/a><\/p>\n

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