The Ivy Club

Spear's Review

The Ivy Club sits above the eponymous restaurant at Covent Garden in the West End. With entry via a flower shop, the cavernous club (spanning three floors) draws its membership from the creative industries and the arts.

While the Club’s membership is a closely guarded secret, everyone from Tom Stoppard to Douglas Hurd has trodden its carpets, and it attracts a strongly thespian crowd. 

Fernando Peire, the club’s director, once said in an interview: ‘If you were the casting director of Glyndebourne opera on £18,000 a year you'd be more likely to get a table than a billionaire. The club has the same ethos. It's not about money but about what you've done and what you're like.’ 

A wonderful art collection adorns the walls, including works by Maggi Hambling, Marc Quinn and Andy Warhol. The food and drink offering is really beyond reproach, too. Annual membership is £1,250, plus a £500 joining fee.