Applying to Soho House

[Awlondoner]

Hi everyone! I am trying to apply to Soho House London at the moment, and have the backing of two proposers. I was wondering if anyone was a member, knew what the process was like? How long should I expect to wait to hear whether I have got in?

Thank you!

@dementedma - whispers back I googled it, I think it's a place you pay to join to meet likeminded people who can't go the same places as normal -swingers- people?

DH works in an industry with lots of men of a certain background.... they tend to be members of Boodles & Whites & the like.

He's been to various members clubs as a guest oodles of times and often gets told that if he'd like to join they can facilitate it, but hasn't really wanted to. The way he describes it always sounds a bit sad really, pleasant enough surroundings and decent food but a socially narrow boring membership of rather dull people revelling in shared school & social experiences/predictable hobbies like hunting, fishing. It all sounds a bit stuck in time really and doesnt appeal to DH (or me!!).

@UnicornMadeOfPinkGlitter

If you live near a house it can be good value as the gym and pool alone could cost that much a year for a ‘nice’ gym alone.

We were members of soho house for a while but don’t live near enough tk make it worth while. The children loved soho farmhouse and we stayed at the one in Miami and Istanbul. However there are extra charges for staying overnight. It wasn’t included in the membership.

I couldn’t fault the service there though. Nothing is too much trouble. A passing comment at breakfast about not liking pulp in my juice which was why I wasn’t ordering resulted in a sieved glass of juice turning up unannounced. I was embarrassed and drank it, but didn’t really want it.

The new house in the old bbc building is supposed to be stunning but I’ve not been. And yes access to pools etc on weeks like we’ve had recently would be a huge bonus. Especially if I was young and child free and could go off on a whim.

We stopped as nothing local to us and joined a local spa/gym and paid £115 a month for that and it was nowhere near as nice as the soho ones.

soho house is cheap as chips compared to the local private club with gym in Vancouver. Over $70,000 joining fee (£40K) - usual rules re joining. proposed by members plus very expensive for regular use. That keeps out the middle class/upper middle class riff raff, ie salaried people.

OK, so let me get this straight....

People have to beg to be nominated by existing members to be awarded a place on a waiting list to be considered worthy of paying ££££ per year for the privilege of being a customer at what is essentially a fancy bar & restaurant.

Odd sort of place, London....

Sparechange, to be honest if I were joining a private club I would not be looking for a meritocracy. Old soaks drinking posh wine sounds very much up my street.

However I can’t claim to benefit from SW3 nepotism. I will need to find something else. Suggestions? I used to drive past something belonging to the Oddfellows but have just looked them up and don’t think that will work either. Maybe I am just not clubbable.

I quite like SH, especially the Shoreditch one. But they've jumped the shark with their converted chicken shop in Crouch End.

I got taken by my boss for lunch a few weeks ago. Had a lovely pizza there. We are near the pool area.

A few friends must be members as I see them checked in their occasionally plus staying at the farmhouse place.

Looks a fairly nice place to go if you are nearby. I find that area too much of a trek from old street tube (assume that one is shoreditch house) fir my liking!

@JChilesQC

I quite like SH, especially the Shoreditch one. But they've jumped the shark with their converted chicken shop in Crouch End.

Ooh my area....tell me more..wheres the chicken shop? The one at the clock tower?

@MrsTulipTattsyrup

Hey, OP.

I have a strategy when I need information. I ask the people most likely to know the answer. So in your shoes I would have tried:

1. Asking the people who are prepared to propose me for membership their little gang, sorry, club. Given they’re already members, and all, and are presumably people whom you know well.

1. Calling or emailing Soho House, given that it’s their scheme to which you are applying.

1. Googling ‘what is the process for getting membership at soho house?’

Things I wouldn’t have done:

1. Posted what you posted on Mumsnet, risking making myself look like a cock who just wanted to make a not-very-stealth brag.

But maybe that’s just me.

Boring! Personally I would ask on mumsnet. (Not really, but I’m glad people do as it’s educational for some of us ignorant lot).

Surely most people are members through their work? I know two of my friends are they dont pay a penny or have to be nominated.

I would love to go to the Groucho though it just seems so decadent.

I was taken there once by a rich person I knew.

I felt felt it was a bit dull, but then I have nothing in common with wealthy people.

What I hadn't known until now is just how cheap the annual membership is. Any last vestige of jealousy has been wiped clean.

I have a friend who worked there she said it was horrendous
The management are awful and the customers really think they're something she only worked there a month in a cowshed spa

Pretentious and entitled springs to mind

Odd sort of place, London....

Tbh I wouldn't say these clubs are very representative of London. London is renowned for its diversity & multiculturalism, these clubs tend to be very narrow in representing that, particularly when looking at socioeconomic diversity.

I don’t know about Soho House, far too old. We are members of the Athenaeum, which was still a long process, but is useful if staying over on our own or having a working lunch. Some fun events too. Definitely not many TV celebrities though and no pool.

We’ve nominated two people recently and it has taken an age. You have to get numerous members to support the application and it goes to a panel, who consider your CV and profile. It can take over a year to get acceptance or rejection.

@JChilesQC
I've answered my own question. It's the one at the Clock Tower. It was a KFC a few years back.

@MadeOfStarStuff

Bollocks would anyone ask on MN if they had genuine connections.

0/10

I know one of the managers there. Absolutely genuine.

I certainly don’t know them enough to ask them anything about it - and we’re certainly not real friends, but we used to go to school together and are friends on social media.

It’s neither here nor there, as it’s not going to help the OP,but it’s certainly not out of the realm of possibility that someone would know someone.

If I wanted to join I’d be straight on the DM though 🤣

I had never heard of Soho House until today.

I assumed this was a job application thread of some kind.

It appears not.

So. Soho house is a members club where you can go and have a drink with other wankers members? Sounds very similar to my local working men's club. Last time I was a member it cost about 50p. Maybe see if there are any CIU clubs in London OP, save yourself a packet

I thought the arts & creatives were full of posh people although granted they might not play polo.

I earn a very good living as an award-winning writer and actress and I'm from as working class a background as they come. Raised by a single mum who was mentally ill and an alcoholic, ran away from home and slept rough aged 15 to escape her boyfriends molesting me. Worked shit jobs to pay for drama school.

My career is 100% down to talent and sheer hard graft.

I like Soho House and most of the people I know who are members are ordinary people who happen to be good at acting or writing. My best mate just got an OBE and he grew up in a working class mining town near Nottingham. Not everyone in the arts is a posh wanker!

Why shouldn't people like me be allowed to have nice things and enjoy the money I've worked hard for?

@dangermousespants I don't understand your anecdotal point?

Why shouldn't people like me be allowed to have nice things and enjoy the money I've worked hard for?

I don't think you shouldn't be allowed those things

@ExhaustedFlamingo

I had never heard of Soho House until today.

I assumed this was a job application thread of some kind.

It appears not.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought she was posting for interview advice.

Op have you been to a few as a guest to see if it's your cup of tea before you sign up?

I only ask as I went to one (although it was in NYC not London) I was really looking forward to it but was very disappointed. The service was awful, and it was an average place to be at best. I completely get why people in the public eye might like to go due to the privacy it affords, but apart from that, there are much nicer private bars/restaurants/hotels.

The irony of a lot of posts on here sneering at wanting to join an expensive members club... you do get that means you're the snobs right?!

I don't understand your anecdotal point?

That it's sheer snobbery to claim that anyone working in the arts or working in TV who joins what's basically just a a comfy place to hang out with and meet peers is an elitist twat, cringe, entitled, an exclusionary wanker, a posh wanker, just a wanker, a nouveau try-hard, a has-been, a washed up D-lister who's got something wrong with them. Etc. etc. etc.

People who work in theatre don't finish work until 11pm. There just aren't many places in Central London where you can get a quiet drink and bite to eat at 11pm. Not wanky and nothing to do with being desperate to rub shoulders with minor celebs (people who work in theatre don't get excited by celebs anyway).

Why the need for so much vitriol?