Long Lane: Will A Sober Members’ Club Take Off?

Alcohol has long been an intrinsic part of Britain’s members’ clubs. Back in the 17th century, gentlemen’s clubs were places wealthy men would meet to drink and socialise – and as clubs evolved to become more inclusive over the years, their party spirit only grew. The 90s were arguably the hedonistic heyday for London’s club scene, with arrivals like Soho House and the Groucho Club heralding a new era of less stuffy, buzzier spaces for creative types to let loose without worrying they’d be spotted.

But more recently, we’ve seen another shift as members’ clubs increasingly prioritise wellness through state-of-the-art gyms, longevity treatments and alcohol-free drinks. And this summer, the UK will welcome its first-ever sober members’ club and hotel, Long Lane.

Inside Long Lane Members’ Club, West Sussex

Taking over a country house in the South Downs National Park in Sussex, Long Lane is the brainchild of childhood friends Loui Blake and Harrison Hide. Blake is no stranger to entrepreneurship, having launched a string of hospitality businesses including vegan restaurant Kalifornia Kitchen, while Hide spent years working as a sales trader in Wall Street before walking away from the industry in pursuit of a more balanced life.

‘Working in New York in finance, I was living quite an unhealthy lifestyle,’ Hide tells us. ‘Late nights, alcohol, unhealthy food. But when I wasn’t out entertaining, I was living quite a healthy lifestyle. It felt like when Thursday came around, I really had to sacrifice that to connect with people, and it didn’t really sit right with me anymore.’ He reconnected with Blake, who was having a similar but different journey, worn out from the notoriously stressful hospitality world and struggling to find ways to socialise that didn’t come at the expense of his health. ‘We got chatting about what a hospitality space would look like if wellness was the centre of it all.’

It turns out Blake and Hide weren’t alone in their feelings. Blake shared the concept on social media to gauge interest, and before long the first video had amassed millions of views. ‘At that point, we realised we’re not just crazy,’ adds Hide. ‘We want this to exist, but other people do as well.’ The pair quickly began bringing their vision to life, teaming up with hospitality consultant Jamie Caring, Soho House’s former Chief Marketing Officer to create a new kind of club where meaningful connection is prioritised over luxury. 

Wellness clubs are popping up everywhere right now – but Long Lane’s USP is its strict alcohol ban. While the UK has historically been known for its boozy culture, the tides have been gradually turning over the past decade, with recent figures showing 44 percent of British adults are choosing no and low-alcohol drinks to moderate their drinking (up from 31 percent in 2018). But without the promise of cocktail-fuelled gossip and liquid lunches, how can a club entice members?

The Facilities

Picture a space where everything has been designed with health in mind – from the choice of materials (biocompatible, non-toxic and low-EMF to work in harmony with the human microbiome) to the lighting in rooms, which shifts to mirror the cycles of nature. The 20 bedrooms in the main house are built upon biohacking principles, with EightSleep mattresses (which change the temperature of your body as you sleep), air filtration systems, organic materials and wellness tech menus. Instead of minibars and TVs, rooms are stocked with Healf collagen shots and IV drips, with red light panels on the walls to aid deep slumber (tapping into one of this year’s biggest wellness trends, recovery). Health nerds will be in their element.

Naturally, the restaurant will be all about unprocessed, nutritious food, with many ingredients grown on-site, while the alcohol-free bar will be overseen by Camilla Fayed’s Farmacy, serving adaptogenic drinks and toxin-free coffee. 

The Coach House spa will be the heart of the hotel, offering contrast therapy, saunas, hyperbaric oxygen chambers and cryotherapy, alongside a yoga and pilates studio. Nature will be a key theme, highlighted in the spa garden which comes complete with its own natural pool, a meditation meadow and treatment pods where guests can enjoy facials, massages and scrubs using local herbs. Elsewhere you’ll find padel courts and walking trails, plus a wide programme of outdoorsy activities such as open fire cooking, foraging and archery.

Underpinning everything at Long Lane is the idea of rituals – something Blake thinks we’ve lost over time in the UK. ‘Lots of Indigenous cultures around the world have retained that sense of ritual,’ notes Blake. ‘What we’re trying to bring in on the site is rituals through each of the experiences. So it may be every morning, at sunrise, we gather, we go into the cold pool together, we breathe, we come out, we sit together. That’s a ritual. You can do it by yourself. You can do it with everyone.’

Sustainability

With the focus on nature immersion, sustainability is an inherent part of Long Lane, Blake adds. ‘The woodland itself is in a pretty bad condition – you’ve got excess rhododendrons throughout, which is preventing anything else from growing and in turn preventing a lack of bird and animal life.’ To tackle this, expert no-dig gardener Charles Dowding has come up with a 30-year plan to improve the site’s biodiversity, replanting native trees and bringing different species back. The hotel will also be plastic-free and 100 percent organic, with a closed loop food system meaning everything that’s grown and consumed is composted back on site.

Membership

On top of all this, members will get extra perks, with a focus on personalisation. Membership can begin with biometric testing and DNA methylation analysis, which will then dictate wellness plans, vitamin programmes and individualised food menus. There will be different tier options, with options for Londoners who want to visit a few times a year, as well as locals keen to use it as their everyday health club – plus an elite Longevity offering for hardcore health types, giving access to Long Lane’s entire wellness ecosystem.

The dream guests? David Beckham, Tom Holland (who is famously teetotal) and David Gandy… but the duo stress it’s less about celebrity names and more about people with shared values. ‘Most members’ clubs are closely tied to status and money,’ says Blake. ‘And I think we’ve become a bit bored of that as a game, right? So people are looking for more meaning and more feeling. Fuelled by the amount of time we’re all spending on screens and the rapid emergence of AI, we’re craving more human and more real experiences.’ 

What Blake and Hide really hope to garner is a sense of community – which they’re already well on their way to creating, with a 34k-strong following on the club’s Instagram plus hundreds of thousands more on their own social media profiles. With longevity one of the biggest health topics of the moment and a spate of celebs launching alcohol-free brands, Long Lane has clearly captured the zeitgeist. Members’ clubs are booming, and with Long Lane’s membership rates starting from £100 a month, it’s more affordable than many of its competitors. Could this be the social space of the future?

Rooms will start from £350 per night on a B&B basis, membership rates from £100 – £500 per month, find out more at longlane.co.uk