The Groucho Club

Review for hotel portion of Club. Pro’s…exclusive, centrally located and incredibly nice and helpful staff. Room was nice, free movies on DVD, Great Art.
Cons, incredibly loud until 2am. Soho district is loud, but the club downstairs pumps music that rattles the floor. I had earplugs and sleeping pills so I was fine, but be warned and come prepared. I guess most people would stumble upon from the club and pass out so it may not be an issue for most. Also, only a bathtub in my room, not a huge issue but I am 6’3″ and it was a tight squeeze.

Great place for meetings, lunches, and letting loose late a night!

Members only club, but if you’re lucky enough to attend an event here or have a mate with a membership, go. The cocktails are pretty brilliant, the food spot on and the people watching not too shabby either.

Let’s face it — you are going to experience a club that is still quite difficult to get into.
That said, the service, food and overall experience kind of blows. We went there recently with a member friend and sat next to a table of people I would charitably describe as ‘Jersey shore’ (the USA version not the UK — who might very well be witty and well-​read cultural types vs. loud morons). Two days later my wife and I were still baffled as to how they got in.
However the major problem was that the service with our table was so ghastly I read our waiter the riot act at the end of the evening. Everything had to be ordered 2−3x, my wife had soap scum in her wine glass that the waitress couldn’t be bothered to apologize for upon seeing the floating particulate nor to even comp (!) us for the bottle that she ruined. It was quite impressive.
The food was… well would you want to pay £18 for a bowl of spaghetti with two small pieces of crab in it that was called ‘seafood linguini’? Yeah, I wouldn’t want to either — just kind of shocked they did that.
The plus side — my friend was the same interesting and gregarious person that I have come to know. I felt bad for him because he kept apologizing for the club.
If only the staff understood to make the same effort it would not have seemed as p*ss poor as it clearly was!
Seek out other options…

Hmmm not really sure how to rate this place. I have been here for dinner and the food was good, but not excellent. The décor in the lounge areas is a little outdated and the crowd tends to be a little more, shall we say, mature. This may have been a great spot in its hay day, but there are much nicer members clubs in London.

I’ve been back quite a few times since my last review, more events in the upstairs function rooms, drinks and even dinner at the main club downstairs. It’s almost comforting that nothing ever changes, the Groucho is a real institution and THE club for writers and arty types. It will be interesting to see whether anything changes now that there are new owners.
I will always be grateful for friends inviting me as a guest, but the Groucho wouldn’t be my first choice with so many new and exciting alternative popping up all over Soho — I wonder if Groucho Marx would join?

Lovely food but the wraps are so small you’ll need two! The Club is a little exclusive so you need to rope in a member or organise an event there to get in and smooze with the oh so cool London marketing socialites. Great bar, good food, slightly slow service but otherwise very good.
Think it would be a great place on an evening for some drinks with friends if you can get in!

I rocked up here at way past 1 a.m. the other night. There were no issues getting in with an existing member, and once through the doors past reception… the joint was positively JUMPING!
I do like a private club every now and then. There is typically a better level of customer service and they tend not to attract too many nouveau riche types.
It was so busy in there. What recession???
We waited an eternity for drinks service and our host seemed a little embarrassed and disappointed that the service was slow. I disagreed and had to remind him of the reality of our situation —
1. We were in the heart of the West End.
2. We did not have to queue to get in.
3. It was the early hours of Sunday morning!
4. There was no additional fee (aside from our man’s yearly dues) to get in.
So to rewind a little, the Groucho Club is considered to be the original and primary contemporary private club of its genre. Well-​known members of the Club include William Orbit, Noël Gallagher, Sienna Miller, Alex James, Janet Street-​Porter, Melvyn Bragg, Stephen Fry, Robin Millar, Robert Elms, Richard Bacon, Victor Lewis-​Smith, Sheridan Smith, Rachel Weisz, Noël Fielding, Damian Lewis, Zadie Smith, Fay Wheldon, Terry Pratchett, Danny Wallace, Matthew Bellamy.
And yes, there was a famous actor next to us during our visit.
The club is a multi-​floored establishment that includes three bars, a pair of restaurants, a billiards room, four event rooms available for hire and even 20 bedrooms available for members or their guests!

There is something pretty special about The Groucho Club. Wanky as it is, still very special vibe in the place. And the cocktails are very good too.

I came to the Graucho Club with my wife for a charity function a few months ago.
It was slightly difficult to find though I can understand why.
The service was lovely with the ladies at reception being very charming and friendly.
Upstairs the bar was really smart and the bartenders knowledgable; the chairs are also comfortable and we were quite lucky to meet some really interesting characters.
Would love to come back here, if I can get in!

This club gets its name from a famous quip by Groucho Marx. «I wouldn’t belong to any club that would have me as a member», the great man once said, and the membership maintains such self-​effacing modesty in the face of their own often immodest achievements. That’s what makes it such a great place to hang out, if you’re lucky enough to know a member.
But to echo Groucho, the sort of person who would write a review of the Groucho Club is precisely the sort of indiscreet person who should never visit the Groucho Club. So I won’t review it, except to confirm that the twiglets are very moreish.

Swank digs in a great location. Members here are treated well and are fortunate to have access to have such a convenient and comfy place to pop in, hunker down or otherwise chill out.
Drinks are good, service is friendly and prompt and reception is thorougly professional.
Jealous? Just a little bit.

Serious, old-​school member’s club. Understated posh. Idiosyncratic. Free twiglets.
A friend brought me to this place to discuss some potential business, and it’s a fabulous place to sit and have a cocktail or a beer and discuss highbrow nature, while all pretending to be normalbrow. Relaxing. Friendly. Not sure what the membership costs, but it’s one of the few places I’d consider joining.
The worst part? Farting around through Soho past all the drunkies to get there. Oh well.

I don’t know whether it was the man who propositioned me for sex outside while I was smoking a cigarette (I was NOT dressed hooker-​ish, I swear) or the price of the drinks, but I left with a bad vibe from this place. Which sucks, because I do remember good things about it too…
I don’t know, I’m confused. It’s a toss-​up. The wannabes and hangers-​on all looked me over as if I was a dress on a hanger — they wouldn’t look me in the eyes, weird — but the staff were really nice and chatty. The seats were comfy but it was too cold. The piano playing was sexy but none of the guys were.
See what I mean? I toss-​up. I’d definitely like to go back and see if I feel differently.
p. s. The guy who thought I was a prostitute was willing to give me 200 quid. I’m worth 200 quid. ouch.

It’s been really refreshing to step foot into a member’s club that I actually like considering the past few I’ve been to have been something much less than stellar. Groucho offers something for everyone with the downstairs bar catering to a very relaxed crowd with a more toned-​down décor while the upstairs bar offers a quirky youthful vibe as the bright neon light reminded us, we were «fucking beautiful!»
I have to say, I much preferred the upstairs with its more modern and fun artwork that seemed to hold less reservations about taboo boundaries.
There was a lot of seating and I felt like it was a nice place to escape but offered up enough room so that you don’t feel like you’re packed in like sardines. The staff were attentive and friendly which is a plus considering I’ve been a few places where the workers like to cop an attitude. Hey, I may not be a paying member now, but the level of service dictates how likely I would be one in the future, and I would certainly come back to Groucho.

An interesting place with lots of creative types around. Met a few interesting people there and after copious amounts of champagne on a Monday night (?!), Robert Pattison (yes, from Twilight!) walked in the door, no one stirred much and he had a drink then left.
A great place to celeb spot but you must be a member — try and get an invite from someone cool, like I did. And it helps if they are paying for all the bubbly too!

I was invited by Net Media Planet for an event here, who dazzled with some fascinating predictions on search trends during 2010, so if you’re an online advertiser set up a mobile campaign and think about social search! Right, spiel over onto the actual venue… lovely canapés I must say, while hob nobbing with a fellow from an e-​consultancy firm I couldn’t help but stuff my face full of mini-​pastry crayfish while glugging rather delicious pinot noir. If I sound like a marketing twat, please read this with just a hint of humour :-) Lovely striped wallpaper also, but I could do without that beige carpet. Great spot nonetheless, a must for Soho’s elite.

I stayed here once. It’s a media hipster private club and hotel. The rooms were tiny and felt a little like summer camp but this joint has status around town. The Concierge can get you hooked up just about anywhere around town.
I had my first (and last) experience with black pudding here. But otherwise, a healthy breakfast spread.

I have a friend that is a member and when I come to London we have to come to her club. We are usually just hanging out in the back area having drinks but we have dined here a couple times.
The food is very good and the service is great.
I don’t remember too much about the place because this tends to be the last stop of the day after bouncing around the pubs… wait…I do remember something… getting a cab on a Friday night is a b*tch! Even if they call for one no cabbie wants to head out that way to come pick you up.

The Graucho Club is probably one of the most exclusive in London which is probably also why you simply cannot just walk in unless you are a member (waiting list of at least 18 months) or with a member (definitely the easier option). The hangout of the likes of Stephen Fry, politicians and elite celebrity media types, this is where they all hide. And I can see why.
On arrival, you enter a lovely reception area with very friendly staff. The place is actually very tricky to find as I think they try and keep its identity as subtle as possible to avoid unwanted crowds or the more common folk causing trouble. Yes, it is rather snobby but the service is amazing and apparently if you buy your waiter/​waitress staff drink occasionally, this will do no harm as they will remember you. The bar is very elegant — not too fussy but lovely comfortable chairs and a relaxing yet hyped up atmosphere. Everyone here is generally creative in various disciplines so there are always excited conversations and people buzzing around.
They also have rooms for use if you are having a private party or rich/​famous enough to hire one in addition to a dining room. There is even a marriage license at the weekends so if you fancy getting hitched in style, this is definitely the place!
It is fairly intimidating coming to a venue of this calibre but exciting at the same time. You will probably spot someone famous but I doubt they would appreciate autograph requests in here so just pretend you are one of them — they’ll never know!