Soho House, the world’s most popular members’ club and an endearing symbol of high society, is finally coming to Sydney. After many years of speculation and even a rogue visit to Paddington’s Oxford House earlier this year as part of its ‘Cities Without Houses’ program, the brand beloved by creative industry elites and Hollywood stars will establish itself on the backstreets of Darlinghurst.
The news, originally reported by Australian Financial Review, comes after a consortium – the Victor Smorgon Group-backed Trenerry Property Group and Kanat Group – spent more than $20 million procuring an “island site” for the massive project. Not far from pioneering speakeasy Shady Pines Saloon, Soho House Sydney will reportedly fit into the three-storey building at 256 Crown Street, just behind Oxford Street.
Initially, plans were to have Australia’s first-ever Soho House Club in Melbourne after the consortium purchased a South Yarra mansion last year. Plans were ditched in the face of strong opposition from the City of Melbourne, pushing the project to inner Sydney.
Details on Soho House Sydney are scant right now but it does make sense that the brand, founded by British millionaire Nick Jones in 1995, would settle on somewhere like Darlinghurst. The company’s preferred business model as of late has been to attach its traditional members’ clubs to modern boutique hotels. Since boutique hotels generate more revenue, and profits would almost certainly be a priority given the company went public in July 2021, trading under Membership Collective Group.
Soho House already has 38 locations around the world and there are rapid expansion plans in place. It’s more than likely we’ll end up seeing more than one Soho House in Australia, since investors targeted Melbourne in the first place.
We will be updating this article as more details for Soho House Sydney are released. As of right now, there is no official opening date planned for the project.
