Australia’s Private Members’ Club Boom Is Only Just Getting Started

For decades, Australia’s private members’ clubs were the domain of tailored blazers, six-generation surnames, and rules so rigid they made Buckingham Palace look like a day spa. Think The Australian Club in Sydney or the Athenaeum in Melbourne. The kind of places where sockettes are still banned and women are sometimes only welcome on “special occasions.”

But in 2025, exclusivity is being redefined—and it looks more like a barefoot dinner in Bondi than a whisky-soaked power lunch in Macquarie Street.

After years of anticipation, Soho House is officially opening in Sydney in 2026. It’ll take over a five-storey heritage site on Crown Street in Darlinghurst, bringing with it the same rooftop pools, hidden cinemas, and creative crowd curation that made it a global cultural phenomenon.

For now, Sydney locals can tap into its “Cities Without Houses” membership, gaining access to pop-up events, networking salons, and artist showcases while the club is being built. It’s already become the city’s most fashionable secret.

And if global trends are anything to go by, it’s not just another place to sip natural wine and talk NFTs. It’s part of a larger evolution of how creative professionals, entrepreneurs, and high performers want to live.

Just look at Soho Farmhouse in Oxfordshire, a rustic-meets-refined countryside retreat that’s become a mecca for low-key luxury, complete with horse stables, cold plunges, and a members-only spa. Or Soho House Ibiza, which recently launched a dedicated wellness campus combining farm-to-table dining, longevity-focused health programs, and full-moon yoga sessions for their global crowd of DJ-turned-breathwork-coach types.

This shift toward retreat-style club life is exactly why the Australian launch matters. It’s not just about exclusivity. It’s about escapism, finding your place between the city and serenity, with like-minded people who value balance over bragging rights.

Australia is seeing a sharp rise in modern members’ clubs that swap cigars and snobbery for wellness, tech panels, and low-alcohol Negronis. Leading the charge is The Pillars, a Sydney-based club for investors, creators, and entrepreneurs with a rumoured waitlist in the hundreds and an annual fee of around $25,000.

Over in Melbourne, former AFL boss Andrew Demetriou is behind Sanctum, a sleek new venue launching this year with a no-phones policy, gender-diverse board, and a rooftop lounge that feels more Brooklyn than Bourke Street.

If the traditional members’ club was built on whisky, cigars, and networking, Saint Haven is rewriting the rulebook with a wellness-first approach. Property developer Tim Gurner is bringing his ultra-luxury health concept to Bondi in 2026, and the formula is unlike anything Australia’s seen before.

Think hyperbaric oxygen therapy, infrared saunas, plunge pools, meditation studios, and Michelin-level nutrition programs, all wrapped up in interiors that feel like an Aman resort. It’s part gym, part wellness retreat, part social hub, a place where you can train like an athlete, recover like a Formula One driver, and still enjoy a glass of biodynamic wine with friends afterwards.

Membership will be capped to keep the vibe intimate, with a heavy focus on community events and holistic living.

Put simply: post-pandemic life changed the game. People are sick of loud restaurants, soulless offices, and networking over LinkedIn DMs. They want privacy without pretension. Culture without chaos. And most importantly, real human connection.

And that’s where the modern private club nails it: it’s a third space. Not your home. Not your office. And unlike a café, you’re never side-eyeing the waiter wondering if you’ve been nursing that long black too long. These clubs are designed to let you stay all day if you want to take a call, write a deck, hit a sauna, sip a Negroni, meet a friend. No one’s waiting to flip the table or boot you out at 3pm.

Let’s be honest: not every member’s club is a creative haven. Some are glorified networking dens full of insufferable finance bros talking about EBITDA over espresso martinis. But the best clubs—like Soho House, Saint Haven, and Sanctum—are actively trying to curate culture, not just cash.

These are spaces designed for designers, writers, filmmakers, founders, thinkers, not the same finance guys who treat Level 6 at the Ivy like it’s Davos. If your idea of connection involves a poker table or doing lines in the loo with Sydney’s underworld, then this probably isn’t your scene.

The new club crowd wants depth, discretion, and a little taste. Not table service and overpriced tequila paddles.

Unlike traditional clubs, where the fee buys you a badge and a bar tab, today’s members want value: community, curated events, wellness perks, and serious cultural cachet.

• The Pillars: ~$25,000/year
• Soho House Sydney: $4,750/year
• Sanctum: $5,250/year
• 67 Pall Mall (coming to Melbourne): $3,500 sign-up + $4,500/year
• Saint Haven: Around $25,000 per year

They’re not cheap. But then again, neither is a therapist, a private office, a co-working space, a gym membership, and dinner with interesting people every week. These clubs bundle all of that—and sell it as lifestyle, not just luxury.

Soho House might be the headline act, but it’s part of a much bigger story: the rise of intelligent, design-led, wellness-rich private clubs in Australia.

They’re places where taste is more important than titles. Where community isn’t just who you know—but how you connect. And where exclusivity isn’t about keeping people out, but giving the right ones a reason to stay.

Sydney’s about to get its first Soho House. Melbourne already has Sanctum. Bondi will soon have Saint Haven. And if the waitlists are anything to go by, Australia’s golden age of members-only living has only just begun.