London Life Places

The Oak Room at the Hospital Club

September 26, 2013

The hospital club never fails to amaze. It’s been exactly a year since I last wrote about my favourite ‘home from home’ place. Back then i introduced you to sue walter, CEO extraordinaire and my dear friend.

Today i want to show you round ‘the oak room’, the brand new live performance and showcase space that opened in the club just over a week ago. Designed by the award-winning russell sage studio, the oak room will entertain us members with an eclectic range of outstanding entertainment, from DJs and live performances (featuring some of the UK’s best music acts) to high-end comedy, cabaret and jazz nights.

Here’s what sue had to say about it: “It is not often a new event space opens in central london which has literally never been seen before. The oak room will be integral to the hospital club’s ethos of showcasing and supporting emerging talent. We are excited to have secured such a diverse range of new and established acts to help launch the space throughout September, with many more lined up over the coming months to give members, artists and guests a uniquely hospital club experience.”

Call me biased, but for me no other membership club comes even close. London is awash with private membership clubs and they all seem to jump on the bandwagon of being ‘clubs for creatives’. The hospital club, the original club for creatives, is the real deal and as with leaders in any field, they will always excel, innovate and leave the competition behind. I feel proud to have been a member for the past 8 years!

Back to the new space. How would you, my esteemed readers, deal with the following brief? ‘We want a space that acts as a lounge for our members during the day, a performance space in the evenings and has a distinct cabaret and jazz feel to it. We’d also like a fantastic light and sound system.’ Tall order? Well, not for the talented russell sage.

What they got in return is a multi-functional space with it’s own identity. Come on in and take a look.

The bar area is bright and welcoming.

The Oak Room - Bar - colourliving

The Oak Room - Bar - The Hospital Club - colourliving

Elegant, with a nice touch of retro, this area doesn’t disappoint. The club has created an exclusive oak room ‘light menu’ that changes on a regular basis and complements the seasonal food which is served up throughout the club by the wonderful head chef duncan.

The Oak Room - Bar - The Hospital Club - colourliving

The Oak Room - Bar - The Hospital Club - colourliving

The Oak Room - Bar - The Hospital Club - colourliving

Look at these powder-coated tinned panels on the ceiling. Love them!!

The Oak Room - Bar - The Hospital Club - colourliving

The Oak Room - Bar - The Hospital Club - colourliving

It’s great that there is yet another terrace in the club. You can never have too many, right? I have it on good authority that there will be some urban jungle happening out there. Plants will adorn the wooden slats and i think that will be totally fab!

The Oak Room - Bar - The Hospital Club - colourliving

The Oak Room - Bar - The Hospital Club - colourliving

The Oak Room - Bar - The Hospital Club - colourliving

We’re now entering the main performance space. It’s warm and inviting. Like in all good cabaret style interiors, there is plenty of seating (100) with some private corners. What i particularly like is that it has been paired back to allow for ‘dressing up’ as and when required.

The Oak Room - Performance Space- The Hospital Club - colourliving

Don’t you just love that fortuny floor lamp?

The Oak Room - Performance Space- The Hospital Club - colourliving

The Oak Room - Performance Space- The Hospital Club - colourliving

The Oak Room - Bar - The Hospital Club - colourliving

I like the blue velvet corner sofas. It would have been just too easy to go for the usual plush red velvet.

The Oak Room - Performance Space- The Hospital Club - colourliving

The stage is generous enough and apparently the acoustics is superb!

The Oak Room - Performance Space- The Hospital Club - colourliving

Staff were setting up for the night’s performance. I really wanted to do some ‘testing, testing, 1,2,3’.

The Oak Room - Performance Space- The Hospital Club - colourliving

By far, my favourite detail is the beautiful drawings on canvases that adorn the walls. Inspired by george grosz, the german artist known especially for his caricatural drawings of berlin life in the 1920s, the club commissioned a senior artist.

The Oak Room - Performance Space- The Hospital Club - colourliving

The Oak Room - Performance Space- The Hospital Club - colourliving

The Oak Room - Performance Space- The Hospital Club - colourliving

The Oak Room - Performance Space- The Hospital Club - colourliving

When i took these photographs i was fortunate to have the lighting and sound engineer in the room. Upon my request, he gave me some disco and mood lighting.

The Oak Room - Performance Space- The Hospital Club - colourliving

The Oak Room - Performance Space- The Hospital Club - colourliving

The Oak Room - Performance Space- The Hospital Club - colourliving

The Oak Room - Performance Space- The Hospital Club - colourliving

The Oak Room - Performance Space- The Hospital Club - colourliving

The Oak Room - Performance Space- The Hospital Club - colourliving

I cannot wait to experience the oak room first hand and attend a performance. The line-up looks amazing. Meanwhile i shall rejoice in the fact that as long as sue walter is at the helm, together with michael berg, creative director, and the rest of their team, there will be further gems in the pipeline. London, watch out. The hospital club never sits on its laurels.

To keep with the theme of london, why not head over to happy interior blog where i’ve curated an eclectic 24 hrs london lifestyle guide.

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19 Comments

  • Reply Toni @ Skandivis September 26, 2013 at 4:48 pm

    I went to the Hospital Club for the first time last week, and it was love a first sight. The feel of the place is exclusive as well as inclusive if that makes any sense and the decor was AMAZING! You’re one lucky girl Tina! Ton ixxx

    • Reply tina September 30, 2013 at 6:33 am

      I now remember you were going to come with me to a Breakfast talk with Ruth Rogers last year but had to cancel..

      Glad you like the club! Ha. I do consider myself lucky indeed x

  • Reply Holly September 26, 2013 at 9:06 pm

    Tina! Great post! HC should be thrilled to have such a fantastic advocate for a member 🙂 I’m really amazed by your photos, they are really perfect. Well done 🙂

    It was such a pleasure to visit this place with you. Thank you for taking me along as your guest. I will never forget it.

    Xx.

    • Reply tina September 30, 2013 at 6:34 am

      Thanks Holly!

      I’m really pleased you got to come and see it for yourself. It was a memorable evening xx

  • Reply Catherine September 27, 2013 at 5:50 am

    Wowsers!!! The redesign is amazing, you’re so lucky to be a member of a fab club for creatives like this. I haven’t heard of to many clubs like this in Australia, wonder if it will catch on down here eventually. Can see why you love it so much. I agree with Holly as always your photos are fantastic. Is there a long waiting list to become a member? xx

    • Reply tina September 30, 2013 at 6:37 am

      It’s not really a re-design. They opened a completely new space within the club.

      Yes, not sure about Australia. Not really heard of any such clubs there but of course you would know better!
      Thanks love.

      I believe they are about to close the membership and then it’ll be a matter of as and when members leave there’ll be new room xx

  • Reply Chi @ 106 September 27, 2013 at 8:02 am

    Such an incredible space, Tina – thanks for the sneak peek! 😀

    The effect of skillfully applied coloured lighting – and lighting in general – never ceases to amaze me. I particularly love the strip lighting around the wood panelling (in the 6th photo).

    It must be such a joy to spend time at The Hospital Club – Catherine’s right: they’ve set the tone perfectly. I, too, dream of someday becoming a member.

    Superb photography as always.
    Have a super weekend, honey! 😀 xo

    • Reply tina September 30, 2013 at 6:39 am

      Thanks Chi.

      Lighting is really difficult I think and yet so very important for creating moods.
      Yes, I agree the lighting around the wood panelling is a great touch.

      Hope your girls have recovered x

  • Reply Gerard @WalnutGrey September 27, 2013 at 12:44 pm

    You are biased 😉 But with very good reason. The Hospital Club is a really great central London space. I certainly enjoyed the couple of times I was there with you.

    I can’t say that I like the bar area (maybe it’s the low ceiling or choice of stools) but the performance space looks good. I spy some fantastic chairs 🙂 And the mood lighting is cool.

    Thanks for sharing xx

    • Reply tina September 30, 2013 at 6:41 am

      Hahaha! Of course I am :-))

      It’s a very different space to the rest of the club and that’s what I like about it. One of my favourite things when I enter the club is to ask myself (or my guest) what mood are we in and where would we like to hold the meeting or hang out… I do it every single time (unless I’m going to the cinema:-)

      Pleasure G xx

  • Reply Nicola September 27, 2013 at 1:35 pm

    What a great place to be a member of. I can imagine a well-lit evening event being very atmospheric with all that great lighting xx

    • Reply tina September 30, 2013 at 6:42 am

      Yes, let’s pick some performance you like and we’ll go, ok? xx

  • Reply Doris September 28, 2013 at 4:41 pm

    What an inspiring place Tina. I too was struck by the murals on the walls before you mentioned them further down in the post. They must create so much atmosphere in the room I can imagine. Lovely photo’s as usual. xD

    • Reply tina September 30, 2013 at 6:44 am

      Thanks Doris. LOVE the murals. IMHO, they add an important factor to the space.
      x

  • Reply Alison Sye September 29, 2013 at 4:43 pm

    Love the look of this place, Tina. When you were at St. Martins did you ever pop over to The Phoenix Artists Club? I have lots of friends who are members? Looks very different to this club, though.

    • Reply tina September 30, 2013 at 6:47 am

      Gosh, that takes me back a few years… no I’ve never been to ‘the Phoenix Artist Club’ as I believe they opened in the late 80’s and I left St Martins in 1987.
      Looks very fun and very laid back. Do you sometimes go??

  • Reply Jocelyn Casey October 1, 2013 at 11:11 am

    Oh my! This place is uber cool! Love the chairs and the wee stools. The lighting is lovely, I especially adore the gold and black lamp. Do they sing there or is it stand up comedy? thank you for sharing xx

    • Reply tina October 2, 2013 at 6:46 pm

      They do a bit of everything up there:-) It’s a performance space… glad you like it. xx

  • Reply The Hospital Club adds 15 bedrooms colourliving April 6, 2015 at 2:52 pm

    […] blogged about the club, its history and our lovely CEO before. You can also read about the Oak room addition back in […]

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