History of The Club

The Groucho Club, founded in 1985 was the brainchild of a group of leading publishers who wanted to create a members club that was an alternative to the "gentleman's clubs" and accessible to them, their friends and associates. The traditional "Private Member's Clubs" of this time such as The Garrick, Boodles and Whites, all refused to accept women as members. The original board of The Groucho Club, included the two leading female publishers of our time, Liz Calder of Bloomsbury and Carmen Calil of Virago. From the start, The Groucho Club had to be somewhere different.

Soho in 1985 was still very much London's "Bohemian" district and although situated between more salubrious areas of London it was not quite the St. James's, where most Gentlemen's Clubs were based, but then neither was the Membership to be quite so staid. Founded by publishers for publishers, the original members lived and worked in the world of the written word. The Groucho Club was to be a place where writers, their agents and their publishers could eat, drink, work and party. Where better to be situated than right in the heart of Soho.

45 Dean Street had been a restaurant since 1880 but the building is perhaps most famously remembered as Gennaro's. Here such luminaries as the Kings of Greece, Yugoslavia and Siam dined alongside Caruso and Dame Nellie Melba. Up until his death Gennaro would greet his guests at the door to present each female diner with a red rose. With Gennaro's death, though it remained an Italian restaurant, 45 Dean Street fell in to disrepair, there was little proof of its glamorous past when The Groucho Club purchased the site in 1984.

Anthony Mackintosh, creator of Dingwalls, The Zanzibar and 192, was introduced as Managing Director to turn the dream into reality and with the backing and support of a large group of shareholders The Groucho Club opened its doors to the first 500 members in May 1985.
Most of those original members and shareholders are still an important part of the club today.

As the building expanded upwards and outwards, so too did the membership and now The Groucho Club is as associated with actors, musicians, writers, artists and film makers. It is the pre-eminent "media" members club.

In the grand tradition, The Groucho Club evolved by encouraging the founder members to propose or second their friends and colleagues and in doing so leave only the smallest degree of separation between members. Twenty years on, if two members unknown to each other strike up a conversation at the bar, the chances are they would soon find a common ground.

The strictness of the membership committee ensured that only a handful of the proposed got through, and this has in turn spawned a number of imitators including Blacks and Soho House. In the present day the idea of a Private Members Club is not exceptional, but in 1985 it was avant-garde indeed even unimaginable.

For more information please contact us