The private members' club has expanded considerably since Soho House normalised the format for a younger, creative-industry audience in the 1990s. What was once a small, opaque network of London institutions with decades-long waiting lists is now a global category with dozens of clubs competing for annual fees. Whether any of them are worth it depends almost entirely on what you are buying — and whether the bar is actually good.
What You're Actually Paying For
The members' club pitch rests on three propositions: access control (no civilians), community (people like you), and facilities (a bar you can always get a table at). The first proposition has weakened significantly as clubs have scaled — a Soho House with 4,000 members in a single city is not the same proposition as the original Dean Street house with 300. The second proposition varies enormously by club. The third is the most consistently delivered, and for people who entertain regularly or live in cities where finding a table is genuinely difficult, it has real value.
01
Annabel's, London
Mayfair££££Jungle Room / Iconic
The oldest and arguably most famous private members' bar in London, Annabel's in its current incarnation (rebuilt by Martin Brudnizki in a maximalist jungle aesthetic) is one of the more photographed interior bar spaces in the world. The cocktails are priced as you would expect for Mayfair, the service is attentive without being intrusive, and the membership criteria remains restrictive enough that the room tends toward the genuinely interesting rather than the simply wealthy. The bar programme is serious — the spirits library is one of the better collections in London.
Order: Any of the house-aged cocktails from the spirits library — they rotate monthly
02
The Arts Club, London
Mayfair££££Art World / International
The Arts Club's bar operates at the intersection of the Mayfair gallery world and the international art market — the membership demographic skews toward collectors, dealers, and artists rather than the financial services crowd of nearby clubs. The cocktail programme reflects this: seasonal, restrained, and focused on provenance in the same way the restaurant menu is. The room itself — Georgian townhouse, dark wood, very good art — is one of the more comfortable private rooms in London for a long evening.
Order: The seasonal Martini — they change the botanical infusion quarterly
03
Zero Bond, New York
NoHo$$$$Media / Entertainment
Zero Bond positioned itself as the New York answer to Annabel's — a private club that prioritises atmosphere and membership curation over square footage. The lower level bar is the real draw: a low-lit, carefully soundproofed room where conversations can actually happen without shouting. The cocktail programme draws from the same talent pool as the city's better independent bars, which means the quality justifies the pricing rather than simply reflecting the premium of exclusivity.
Order: The house Old Fashioned variation — they age it in-house for 30 days
Hotel bar vs standalone bar: which is worth your night?
The comparison that members' club bars often get left out of — here's where they fit in the hierarchy.
The best members' clubs justify their annual cost by delivering something genuinely unavailable elsewhere: either access to a room you cannot enter as a non-member, or a consistent experience that public bars in the same city cannot reliably provide. The clubs that do not justify their fee are trading on the psychology of exclusivity — the bar is mediocre, the community is thin, and the only real product is the membership card itself.
04
The House of KOKO, London
Camden£££Music-Led / Creative Industries
Built around the restored KOKO music venue, the House of KOKO membership offers access to one of the more unusual bar formats in London — a music-focused private space where the entertainment programme is actually curated rather than incidental. The bars within the venue vary by floor, ranging from a standing cocktail bar to a seated lounge with live acoustic sets. For people who attend live music regularly and want a guaranteed seat, the proposition makes genuine sense.
Order: Whatever they're featuring from their cocktail menu — it changes with the programming
Paris's private club scene operates differently from London's — older, more closed, less media-friendly. Le Cercle represents the traditional end of this spectrum: an establishment that operates entirely on personal recommendation, maintains no social media presence, and has a wine cellar that is one of the better collections accessible over a bar counter in the city. The membership is weighted toward people who have been in the city for decades. It earns its fee through the wine access alone.
Order: Ask the sommelier — this is not a cocktail bar
06
The Battery, San Francisco
Financial District$$$$Tech-Adjacent / Curated
The Battery made a deliberate choice to recruit from the tech world without becoming a tech club — the membership criteria specifically avoids monoculture by requiring demonstrated achievement across different fields. The bar is a serious operation: the cocktail menu changes seasonally, the spirits programme reflects Northern California's craft distilling scene intelligently, and the room is one of the better-designed private bar spaces in the city. Worth it for regular users; marginal value for occasional visitors.
Order: Any of the cocktails built around local spirits — they source from within 200 miles
Weekly editorial
The bars worth going to, weekly.
One email per week. The bars our editors are recommending right now, across 60 cities worldwide.
Free. Unsubscribe anytime.
The Honest Verdict
Members' clubs justify their fees for three types of people: those who entertain clients or colleagues regularly and need a guaranteed table in a controlled environment; those who travel frequently between cities where the same club operates and value the consistency; and those whose professional network is concentrated inside a specific club's membership. For everyone else, the money is usually better spent on ten evenings at the best independent cocktail bars in your city.
The bar quality, specifically, is rarely the primary reason to join a members' club. The best standalone cocktail bars in any major city will outperform most club bars on programme depth and creativity. What clubs offer is atmosphere management and access reliability — valuable things, but different things.
The best cocktail bars in the world
The standalone bars our editors consider worth travelling for — no membership required.
