This City Members’ Club Is Opening A Rural Outpost
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1 month ago
The Ned is swapping the town for the country
London has seen a slew of new members’ clubs opening their doors in 2025, from neighbourhood spots in Fulham and Clapham to a South Kensington club counting Tiger Woods and Justin Timberlake among its shareholders. But City icon The Ned is turning its attention to the countryside. Here’s everything we know so far about The Ned’s new rural outpost, plus when it’ll open its doors.
City Spot The Ned To Open New Rural Members’ Club
According to CityAM which broke the news, the new ‘rural’ Ned is the first in an ‘aggressive expansion plan’ which will turn its attention to mainland Europe very soon. But first, the British countryside: execs describe the rural Ned as ‘a newly created concept’ that pushes beyond the typical hotel and club composition. ‘We think this brand is only really getting started,’ says the group’s managing director Gareth Banner. ‘When we find the right site with the right DNA, we are aggressive.’
Slated to open in 2028 or 2029, we don’t have an exact location just yet, but we’re told The Ned’s second UK club will be nestled in the countryside ‘within 100 miles of London’. The opening follows international clubhouses in New York, Washington DC and Doha. All of those clubs occupy repurposed or refurbished buildings – as does The Ned London, which has transformed the former Midland Bank building into a swanky hideaway for Londoners.
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Home to 10 restaurants, 17 bars (including one on the rooftop), 250 bedrooms, a 620 sqm gym, a spa with a menu of treatments and grooming services, an enviable art collection curated by Kate Bryan, a chic rooftop swimming pool and an indoor pool too, The Ned London first opened its doors in 2017, followed by The Ned NoMad Manhattan and The Ned Doha in 2022. Earlier this year, The Ned Washington DC opened a clubhouse in The Walker Building, which has reportedly proved popular among the city’s political elite.
But it seems the rural Ned will be purpose built. ‘To create something from scratch brings with it slightly different challenges,’ Banner told CityAM. ‘Everything else [we have opened] has been a repurposing or a refurbishment but this is a newly created concept. We think we’re probably three and a half years from opening doors, although there may be a phased approach.’
The Ned follows in the footsteps of members’ club giant Soho House, whose popular Cotswolds outpost Soho Farmhouse attracts queues of cars filled with prospective punters every summer weekend. It makes sense: Soho House members don’t get access to The Ned included in their membership, they are thought of as sister clubs. The Ned was spearheaded by Soho House founder Nick Jones after being impressed by the Midland Bank building, which is now The Ned’s London clubhouse. Back then (in 2012), the Grade I listed building had been disused for eight years. Today, The Ned is primarily owned by Ron Burkle, who is also a majority shareholder in Soho House. According to its website, Ned’s Club London is ‘a place for diverse professionals to meet, work and have a good time’. Membership is priced at £4,000 per year.
The news of The Ned’s expansion also comes a year after celebrity hotspot Groucho Club revealed its intentions to open a second post in Bretton, right beside Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Soon after, the famed club was embroiled in criminal proceedings following an alleged rape on the premises. Closed from November to January, the Club’s first female CEO Elli Jafari was forced to step down, as was Ewan Venters, chief exec of Artfarm, the hospitality group which owns the club. Back then, Venters said: ‘Groucho Bretton will have a life of its own, separate from the original Groucho, but equally with a uniquely eclectic style and personality rooted in both people and place.’ Originally slated to open in 2026, it’s likely Artfarm’s shakeup has caused a delay in proceedings.
