LIFESTYLE

PRIVATE MEMBERS’ ONLY

32

BEHIND CLOSED
DOORS
ENTER THE WORLD OF THE PRIVATE MEMBERS’ CLUBS
BY // GEORGINA WILSON-POWELL
“Private clubs always
do very well
in down times because networking
becomes ultra important,” says Andrew
Christon, manager of Dubai’s only pri-
vate members’ club, the Capital Club.
Located in DIFC, its very existence is
not widely known but its members rank
amongst some of the most influential
people living and working in the UAE.
Set over four floors and accessed by
a staffed elevator, the Capital Club has
a light and airy feel despite its hidden
location. There are plenty of quiet sofa
areas perfect for a private meeting or
LIFESTYLE
simply a bit of peace and quiet. Each
floor has a subtle theme and the club
offers several restaurants, a snooker
room, shisha terraces, modern majlis,
a library, office space, meeting rooms,
a gym and spa and even hotel rooms
that members or members’ guests can
book into.
“Our clients are mostly based
outside of DIFC,” explains Christon.
“They’re based on Sheikh Zayed Road,
Media City, Deira…from all over. Many
people come to the club one day a week
and use it as their office to invite peo-
ple down for lunches or meetings. We
have about 100 members who aren’t
residents of Dubai but who use the
club as their base when in town on
business.” People passing through the
city and using the club as such include
royalty, sports personalities, actors and
all kinds of celebrities.
The Capital Club is the first of its
kind in Dubai. It opened just over a year
ago and currently has just over 1,300
members. Founded by Guy Gilliert, who
opened the World Trade Centre club in
the 1970s, the club is influenced by his
travels and work on similar projects on
other continents. “Private members’
clubs are so popular in Europe and the
States and now in Asia, he identified a
niche in Dubai as there’s nothing like it
here,“ says Christon.
On the club’s board of governors
sits a variety of field leaders from all
areas of business who preside over
prospective memberships. To become
a member you have to be recommend-
ed by an existing member and then
profiled and voted on by a committee. A
majority vote is needed to be accepted
and once that has happened, the new
member will then undergo an enroll-
ment session which outlines the privi-
leges and rules of the club.
“Some people join solely for the
events we put on. Our events commit-
tee has some of the most well con-
nected individuals in Dubai on it. Pretty
much whatever we want to put on, one
of them will have a personal connec-
tion. It means we have access to some
wonderful events and can put them on
at short notice. It’s a relaxed atmos-
phere and there are no press.”
Clubs like the Capital, are common
in every major city round the world, and
33
LIFESTYLE
are varied in their look, feel and facili-
ties, often dictated to by their location
but there are similarities wherever you
go. The people, the standards and the
expectations from the high end of a
monied crowd means that successful
private members clubs all have to offer
some essential aspects. A sense of pri-
vacy, of belonging and of being part of
the elite is just some of the appeal.
“It’s lovely to see members giving
guests tours, feeling proud of their club
and the fact that they have the ability
to recommend people. It’s powerful,”
says Christon. “People have the same
expectations wherever they are in the
world. At this level members are used
to a certain way of living.”
The amount of people used to living
a certain way is not decreasing despite
the downturn, the club has gained over
400 new members in the last year, with
recent months seeing their best ever
sign up.
“Dubai has changed, people are
responding to the economic situation and
recognising that they need to work a little
harder, be out there networking a little
more, so they’re building in a member-
ship to the club into their financial plans.”
It’s not just in Dubai that business
is booming for club owners. Jalouse,
the latest to join a raft of ultra-exclu-
sive, uber-expensive private members’
clubs in London, has only been open
for six months but it has a waiting list
18 months long and its owner has just
been approached to open a sister club
in Bahrain. London can be a demanding
34
and fickle city and its residents even
more so, so a traditional club may not
have a long shelf life but Jalouse hopes
to buck that trend.
“I wanted to build a club that emu-
lated the customer base of the 21st
century and the trends in design and
human behaviour. The flow of the rooms
is very important as today’s customer
likes spending money and to be seen
to do so, so I wanted somewhere that
allowed that to happen.”
Moruf Yoozooph, Jalouse’s founder,
has been in the club industry since
university, after realising that an abil-
ity to create a strong social network
could make a lot of money. Situated in
Mayfair, the club opens four nights a
week and offers its members a private
bolt hole, where they can kick back and
enjoy themselves. Everything in the
club screams opulence and luxury.
“Ten years ago you wouldn’t have
had table service in a club but people’s
tastes have evolved and they want to sit
“IT IS EXCLUSIVE
BUT THEN LIKE
ANYTHING IN
LIFE, IF SOME-
THING IS DIFFI-
CULT TO OBTAIN
THEN IT HAS
VALUE.”
in comfort in beautiful surroundings.
The décor has to reflect your clientele.
We want people to recognise they are
in a luxurious surrounding and act
accordingly.” People acting accordingly
include Hollywood and Bollywood stars,
musicians and even British Princes
William and Harry.
Similary to the Capital Club, pro-
spective members to Jalouse must be
recommended by an existing mem-
ber, but this time by a founding one,
of which there about 500. Although
Jalouse has more of a focus on relaxa-
tion and nightlife than the Capital Club,
it’s attracts a similar type of clientele
– of which Yoozooph says there are
always surprisingly few.
“London is finite for this type of
thing. There’s a pool of about 3,000
people who all the high end private
members’ clubs want to access. If you
know the key opinion formers in town
then you will know one of the founding
members and by extension, us. If you
Previous page: The library at the Capital Club.
This page clockwise from top: One of Capital
Club's majlis; Jalouse; the DJ booth at Jalouse;
one of the dining rooms at Capital Club.
don’t know one of the founders, then
you aren’t moving in the right circles.
Yes, it is exclusive but then like anything
in life, if something is difficult to obtain
then it has value.”
Seeing the value in Jalouse, a former
colleague of Yoozooph has approached
the club about opening in the Kingdom
of Bahrain’s diplomatic area, which
could act as a testing ground before
a full blown Middle Eastern portfolio
of private members’ clubs becomes a
reality for Yoozooph.
“We will endeavour to go to Dubai
but we want to try Bahrain then pos-
sibly Abu Dhabi and then Dubai. I think
it will allow us to understand the local
market first.”
Although clubs of this style all offer
a certain level of service and facilities
no matter where they are in the world,
it doesn’t necassarily guarantee suc-
cess, explains Yoozooph.
“Wealthy people, wherever they are,
have certain things that they like doing,
which are universal but it doesn’t mean
what works in once place, will work in
another. There is no formula to follow.
You need to understand the local mar-
ket and have an ambassador located
where you are setting up and [you must]
respect the local culture.”
Despite the expense, private mem-
bers’ clubs it would seem, are going to
become more popular and more com-
mon in the region, despite the down-
turn but at the end of the day both
the Capital Club and Jalouse put their
success down to a more humbling,
common factor, their members.
“A successful club has the right
demographic of people. If it is mixed
correctly you’ll have a great atmos-
phere and that’s what people remem-
ber and that’s what keeps them coming
back,” explains Yoozooph.
The Capital Club and Jalouse might
provide the location, the facilities and
the refreshments but without the right
people, they would just be another
empty venue…a key tip that lot of other
clubs in both Dubai and London could
learn from.