Inside Asia’s venerated members’ clubs
Rattan chairs; slowly-turning ceiling fans; the sheen of teakwood floors; the swirling smoke of fine cigars. Steeped in colonial history, private gentlemen’s clubs from Shanghai and Singapore via Rangoon to Madras provided a comfortable home away from home for the British Empire’s businessmen and administrators. A private place to read the papers, discuss tea or rubber prices, and catch up on local gossip over a nice gin sling.
Today, despite challenges from smart upstarts like Soho House – and LinkedIn facilitating connectivity with no jacket and tie required – Asia’s club culture remains unshaken and unstirred. Waiting lists can extend over a decade, fees approach the heavens. Are the privileges provided still worth the wait?
Storied goes behind the doors of some of the region’s most venerated institutions, to see how they function in these more technologically streamlined, inclusively minded times. Here’s the lowdown on three with the highest reputations.
Royal Bombay Yacht Club
Location: Mumbai, India
Established: 1846
Membership: 1,700
Old-world elegance remains in fine health at Mumbai’s Royal Bombay Yacht Club. Moving with the times, the average-age profile is coming down as “young, upwardly mobile and aspirational individuals join the club… (Photographed in 1934 / Alamy)
Heritage
No club in the region evinces the imperial atmosphere of private members’ clubs quite as proudly as the Royal Bombay Yacht Club. Bombay was renamed Mumbai in the mid-90s, but the club retains its original nomenclature, and the Union Jack continued flying high from its ramparts until the 21st century hove into view. Founded in 1846 by British sailing enthusiasts during the Raj, its backdrop is the sterling waterfront Gateway of India monument, erected in 1924 to herald the coronation of King George V as Emperor of India, which had ocurred a decade before. Today, club attendants in their starched white uniforms continue to plump the cushions of old-world ambience for its members.
Amenities
The club’s awash with boating facilities and regattas, of course. On the landward side of the veranda, members find the usual amenities of guestrooms, veranda, lounge, ballroom and bar, plus a dining room with harbour views. The diverse menu offers traditional British dishes, as well as Parsi specialties such as mutton dhansak. The appropriately named Dolphin Bar – the sea’s crowd-pullers are often spotted nearby – has become a happening destination in South Mumbai, according to those who frequent it.
Demographic
“RBYC has consciously worked on its membership profile to bring down the average age and increase the gender balance,” said one member we talked to. “We’re seeing young, upwardly mobile and aspirational individuals join the club from across the professions.” Applicants must undergo the usual invitation-nomination-vetting process, and the US $30,000 lifetime fee springs reciprocal entrance to 167 clubs worldwide, many with a nautical steer.
The Hong Kong Club
Location: Hong Kong, China
Established: 1846
Membership: 1,550
Discretion and privacy reign at the Hong Kong Club, which bans photography and strictly enforces its dress code. (Photograph circa 1910 / Alamy)
Origin
Among the eldest and therefore most respected of Asian private clubs. Established by the heads of British trading firms, or Taipans (from the Cantonese dà bān for “big boss”), the Club was said to be the real seat of power in the former colony. Restricted to Europeans until the 1970s, it took another 20 years before women were allowed to join.
Elegibility
Despite now occupying eight floors in a modern tower block in Hong Kong’s Central district (the former Victorian clubhouse was bulldozed in the 1980s), the club promotes and closely guards its old-world mystique through a highly selective invitation and ballot process. We asked for elaboration but were refused, on grounds of members’ privacy. Fees are similarly mysterious.
Rulebook
Use of electronic devices could not be clearer. “All devices absolutely must be kept on silent… Photography of any kind is firmly forbidden.” Dress code ditto. “Gentlemen are requested to wear a front-buttoned tucked-in collared long-sleeve shirt. Polo shirts are not permitted. No white-soled shoes.” It’s not all restrictions though. “Ladies may wear elegant headwear.” In a changing world, comfort results when ambiguity is controlled.
Tanglin Club
Location: Singapore
Established: 1865
Membership: 4,000 Ordinary Members (with voting rights)
The Churchill Bar at Singapore’s family-friendly Tanglin Club speaks to tradition while other amenities cater to modern members’ lifestyles: appealing options for dining, fitness, beauty, games and entertainment.
Heritage
Grandfather of all Singapore clubs. Founded by British merchants over 150 years ago. Brits-only until the 1960s, the club now hosts members from 70 nationalities. Unusually, women were welcomed early on, though not in the bar or billiards room obviously.
Exclusivity
Potential members must be proposed and seconded. Lifetime membership costs US $100,000, which includes reciprocity with 130 clubs worldwide. “We do have prominent and famous members from all sectors – media, government, finance,” club management told Storied. “However, we are unable to reveal more information.”
Characteristics
The Tanglin is bright, modern, emancipated. Most unexpectedly, it welcomes members’ children to “activities and hangouts” such as onsite tennis, gym and pool programs. Redressing the balance, the wood-paneled library houses 13,000 books and “Bye-Laws 21 & 24” set out strict rules of use. A calendar of daily events offers the gamut from games and hobbies to talks and entertainment. Most prized amongst its seven dining options is the mahogany Churchill Room, offering truffle butternut beef wellington or parmesan-crusted black-eye cod. With 27 high-quality suites for members and guests passing through, plus in-house hair and beauty salon, the Tanglin could pass as a luxury cruise ship. Docked, but not anchored in the past.
And so…?
However you regard private members’ clubs – whether as colonial hangovers, luxury leisure centers, or high-status networking hubs – it’s clear they serve purpose for those who seek to join. Counter to any dismissal of them as anachronistic time capsules, there’s no sign they’re in decline. Quite the opposite, with more and more venues opening up across the region.
There will always be an element of mystery and insider elitism to private clubs, but there’s a new breed of more open-door models for an increasingly global membership. (Stefan Steinbauer/Unsplash)
The rise reflects Asia’s growing affluence and its inherent cultural emphasis on social prestige and status. Reputation is highly valued, particularly in Confucianist societies. The concept of “face” matters in East Asia. Relationship-building is essential as a platform for business, making clubs a good venue for that.
Another insight for opaque Western eyes is that Asia is not infected with “class guilt”, largely because these countries have acquired wealth more recently. There’s little shame in being born with a silver spoon here. New clubs are ready to thrive. But the models for them do not require Chesterfield sofas and copies of The Times of London, yesterday’s evening edition.
Among the newest additions to the private club scene in Asia, Harrods’ The Residence Shanghai opened in 2023. (Philippe Roy)
Last year, Harrods opened its first private club, in Shanghai, with annual membership starting at $20,000. Simultaneously in Mumbai, the aptly-named The Modernist opened in the Four Seasons hotel, offering an alternative to the venerable Royal Bombay Yacht Club for the city’s less historically minded.
Hong Kong too has recently seen an eruption of members’ clubs reversing away from the hereditary to cater for smaller numbers with singular tastes. An example is Club C+ for cigar aficionados. A seductive snug with a tactile aesthetic by international designer Steve Leung and lighting maestro Tino Kwan. That these creatives are portraited on the C+ website, alongside its art curator and floral designer, instead of rules about shoes, sends a message of intent about the future of private clubs today.
High design meets discretion at Club C+, where Hong Kong’s new generation of cigar aficionados congregate. (Club C+)
Meanwhile, back in the padded button-back armchairs of the imperialist past, this year saw London’s prime gentlemen’s club, The Garrick (est. 1831), succumb to pressure and vote to admit women as members for the first time. It will be illuminating to watch what waves, if any, ripple around Asia’s legacy institutions and the wider world of clubs as a result.
Main image: Shutterstock
