London has long been the private members’ club capital of the world, but New York is finally catching up. Here are five of the best

There have been private clubs in New York City for as long as there have been well-heeled and well-connected New Yorkers seeking separation from ordinary ones, which is to say, all along. Hallowed institutions, heavy on wood panelling and Chesterfield sofas, with names such as the Knickerbocker Club, the Racquet & Tennis Club, the Explorers Club, the Doubles Club. The occasion for my having visited the last in that list, a few years ago as a member’s guest, was a ‘Fish & Fowl’ night. The tweed and Tattersall dress code was an unveiled nod to a simpler time.

There is a new wave, however, of private members’ clubs taking over Manhattan and they do not have Fish & Fowl nights. What they do have are things such as interiors designed by Rose Uniacke or Ken Fulk, a ‘culinary concierge’ service, Taylor Swift, myriad other celebrities, stickers they put over your iPhone camera so that you cannot take photographs of Taylor and the other celebrities, hyperbaric oxygen chambers, IV drips and red-light therapy, an original Warhol hung behind a welcome desk and a policy dictating your martini be served at less than 4°C.

New York has gone private and, in so doing, has become more like London, where private clubs have continuously been integral to social life — the stratification a feature, not a bug. In fact, several of New York’s new clubs are descendants of London’s finest. A New York location of The Twenty Two has opened in Union Square. Maxime’s, on the Upper East Side, comes courtesy of Britain’s ‘King of Clubs’, Robin Birley, with backing by the Reuben Brothers. Next year, a New York iteration of Annabel’s will open—owned by Richard Caring and designed by Martin Brudnizki, in the Meatpacking District as in Mayfair.

Would you believe it’s all more expensive in the US? In New York, annual dues for the clubs start at about a few thousand dollars and reach into the tens of thousands — and initiation fees run up to a notorious $200,000 at Aman on Fifth Avenue. In London, the barrier to membership has always been more social — who you know on the inside — than financial, with prospective members sometimes waiting years merely to get on a waiting list. Connections are certainly helpful in New York, but a lack of social capital can often be made up for with enough capital-capital, a cultural difference that will shock no keen observer.

Why the boom? Post-pandemic, many professionals no longer go to an office, of course, and, as for nightlife, they’re less eager to sardine into a dance club. The new members’ clubs, taking advantage of the resulting glut of office space to site their sprawling complexes, have stepped in to offer New Yorkers a new way to connect, day or night.

Zachary Weiss, New Yorker and man-about-Instagram, sees the phenomenon through a hospitality lens: ‘I think the battle for a dinner or drinks reservation was the initial driver for this, in addition to the fact that you’re not guaranteed a great experience once you score this reservation. Restaurants in so many cities, but particularly New York, fell into this game of limiting reservations and gamifying the process of scoring one. I realise it helps them allocate inventory and such, but it also ensures that when you score this reservation, you are likely to spend more. The new clubs are the alleged antidote to that, as if to say: “You always have a home here.” ’

Warning: your home may be frequented by celebrities. They value the clubs’ strict no-photographs policies, because privacy is, after all, the ultimate luxury. More ordinary members also say they appreciate this discretion as they yearn for the days of being able to let loose without fear of their inhibitions landing on social media.

Soho Houses these new clubs are not (although with three locations currently in the City, that British import is doing just fine). Although many of New York’s new clubs do offer co-working and private meeting spaces (and infrared saunas and cold plunges), the emphasis among the new guard is on the food — historically an afterthought at private clubs — and the nightlife.

Here are five at the fore. Apply wisely.

ZZ’s

Location

Hudson Yards—25,000sq ft of it.

Atmosphere

‘Medici opulence’ is a phrase being used to describe this Ken Fulk-designed club — and not always disapprovingly. It is the latest from Major Food Group (MFG), the banal-sounding outfit behind the celebrity-favourite Greenwich Village red-sauce joint Carbone (which recently opened in London, inside the former American Embassy).

At ZZ’s, there’s a Japanese restaurant — its seafood flown in from Tokyo, Japan, daily — and a clam bar, as well as a cigar terrace and live-music venue. This is the place with the culinary concierge service — for founding members only — which with a little heads-up will create a bespoke feast of dishes from any or all of MFG’s restaurants or your favourite childhood meal — whatever that might say about you psychologically.

You should join if

You require uninterrupted access to the spicy rigatoni from Carbone — an elusive reservation for almost anyone.

Zero Bond

Location

NoHo, at 0, Bond Street (get it?).

Atmosphere

Outside: paparazzi; inside: Taylor, the Kardashians, Tom Brady, Dua Lipa and too many other celebrity guests to name, although perhaps the most devoted patron is New York City’s mayor Eric Adams, who can’t seem to stay out of the place.

Its founder is Scott Sartiano, whose 1Oak defined City nightlife in the 2010s. You’ve seen inside, actually — in the finale of Succession, with Kieran Culkin’s character sipping a martini at one of the bars.

You should join if

You’re just out of a meeting with other city power brokers frantically discussing how to stop Democratic-socialist Zohran Mamdani from becoming mayor in November.

San Vicente

Location

The edge of the West Village, where it meets the Westside Highway.

Atmosphere

San Vicente is the East Coast outpost of Los Angeles’s San Vicente Bungalows, whose members are board-vetted and rumoured to include the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

When I was invited to the New York location as a guest earlier this summer, the place didn’t really have a location on Google Maps; it looked as if I was being directed to the adjacent Jane Hotel.

Upon arrival, stickers were stuck over my phone’s front and back camera lenses. Actors were indeed spotted on the ginkgo-tree-lined roof deck, although I would not have photographed them. Obviously. Serenely designed by London-based Rose Uniacke, San Vicente is less glitzy than the other clubs, perhaps making it the club for Never-Clubbers.

You should join if

You secretly want to live in Los Angeles.

Casa Cipriani

Location

Financial District, in a 115-year-old ferry terminal.

Atmosphere

Casa Cipriani, located in the landmarked Battery Maritime building, with its Beaux-Arts façade of stamped zinc and copper, is one of the older new clubs, having opened in 2021.

As for the people inside, on one end of the spectrum there’s Andrew Tate, who stayed earlier this year (and posted a video from his room, against rules), and, on the sunnier end, current New York City media darling Emily Sundberg, who works out of the ‘Chip’ several days a week.

Interestingly, the annual dues here represent the lower end of the scale for the new clubs: $3,900 annually or $2,500 for those aged under 30.

You should join if

You prefer your cashmere to be Loro Piana, which is what some of the walls are reportedly lined with.

Chez Margaux

Location

Meatpacking District, near the Whitney and High Line.

Atmosphere

Chez Margauz is proof that the new crop of clubs is all about the dining and nightlife vs laptop time. This one — arguably the hippest of the lot — houses a Jean-Georges restaurant, but the place really comes alive at 11pm, when its caviar-and-cocktails bar transforms into a nightclub called Gaux Gaux.

Design-wise, think acres-of-velvet Parisian boudoir; Jacques Garcia at his sultriest. Rest assured the monkey-print wallcovering has not been skimped on, for it is de Gournay.

You should join if

You are Zoë Kravitz. Or Leonardo DiCaprio.