The man behind the world’s most famous members’ clubs has opened a hotel

When Nick Jones opened his first Soho House on London’s bohemian Greek Street in 1995, its “cool” factor was as much about who was left out as who was let in. For 31 years, the private members’ club was known for being open only to a particular type of creative elite who drifted in from theatres, ateliers, newsrooms and recording studios. Photos were banned, suits were deeply un-chic and if you were in, you were in. If you weren’t, you – and about 100,000 others on the waitlist – were left to wonder what it was really like inside.

Jones stepped down as chief executive of the $US2.7 billion ($3.82 billion) Soho House business in November 2022. Now, as the 62-year-old hospitality titan gears up to open his first independent hotel, St. Clement in London, he says the rules have changed. “What matters now is the opposite: warmth, generosity, being pleased to see people,” he says.

Lucy Dean