The Oak Room at the Hospital Club

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.

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.

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

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!

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.

Don’t you just love that fortuny floor lamp?

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.