When lockdown restrictions eased, Soho House members flocked back to the club’s outdoor locations across London. Now, with indoor dining resuming, the brand’s mastermind, Nick Jones, is set on enhancing the experience even further. The group is expanding its footprint to 180 Strand in London, the landmark brutalist building that used to host London Fashion Week. Jones is turning it into a cultural hub with its nine floors split into a members’ club, a coworking space and a health club.
The interiors are meant to reflect the brutalist aesthetic of the building, which was designed by Sir Frederick Gibberd in the 1970s. Contemporary touches such as velvet seating, shagpile rugs and parquet flooring add the signature home-away-from-home feel for which Soho House is known. One of 180’s best features is its rooftop pool with views over the Thames, the London Eye and Parliament. Next to it, a DJ booth, pizza oven and restaurant encased in a glass box make it clear that Soho House wants to make up for lost time.
More than 150 artworks are on display throughout the building, including pieces made during the global pandemic that touch on America’s gun laws, the Black Lives Matter movement and social distancing. Each work is framed in a bright color, as a reminder “to hunt out rainbows” and “to refuse to submit,” said a company spokesperson.Separately, Soho House has opened the doors to Summer River House, a cozy outdoor club in Windsor — an hour’s drive from London — with a lounge area facing the Thames and a restaurant housed under a tent that channels the charm of the British countryside.