Soho House Creator Nick Jones Is Reinventing the Hotel — Again

“London didn’t need another hotel,” says Nick Jones, as we watch the Thames flow by St. Clement, his latest argument that perhaps it did. “But I think we’ve cut through here by doing things differently.”

It’s a familiar claim in luxury hospitality, but Jones has form. In 1995, he opened the original Soho House in the city’s creative district, pioneering a shabby-luxury aesthetic that became a blueprint for members’ clubs worldwide. Since he stepped down as CEO in 2022, the empire he built has weathered headlines about overcrowding, declining service and the difficulty of securing tables. But whatever its fortunes today, Jones transformed London’s social scene once. Can he do it again?

The buzz around St. Clement has been deafening, even before its official September launch. In July, the Rolling Stones hosted an album launch in the penthouse upstairs. A crowd of 100 or so VIPs — including Daniel Craig and Sacha Baron Cohen — pogoed to “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” before drinking cocktails on a balcony with a panorama spanning Big Ben to The Shard. There was a drone show.

The Serpentine Summer Party — a highlight of London’s arts scene calendar every year — had an afterparty here. Over London Fashion Week, Burberry pitched up for an official dinner. Paul Mescal and Stanley Tucci have both been spotted hanging out, and the gastronomic grandees have begun their descent too. As I tuck into a plate of freshly made pappardelle with a silky veal ragù in Café Clement ($40), I spot Financial Times critic Jay Rayner — irascible scourge of London chefs since the Soho House heyday — arching an eyebrow over the menu. Scrutiny will pick up considerably when Lunette, a rooftop restaurant helmed by Florence Knight in her first venture since Sessions Arts Club, opens in the fall.

The determination to be — as Jones puts it — “faff-free” is evident the moment you walk through the door of St. Clement. In the lobby, you’re immediately lulled by a hit of scented candle, a bespoke creation by Perfumer H. Massive tomes on Basquiat are piled by a crackling fire. Conspicuously absent is any kind of formal check-in. “Everything is done in advance on WhatsApp,” explains relationships director Serena Lightner, previously of Chiltern Firehouse. “You’re welcomed, given your key and brought straight to your room.” No stiff wait by a mahogany desk; no jet-lagged fumbling for your credit card. Rates range from $934 per night for a standard room to $5,765 for the Central River Loft.

Through a discreet door is Bobbi’s Bar, the hotel’s naughty corner. Here the exposed concrete and warm, if unexciting, shades of the rooms and corridors give way to dark wood paneling, glowering lamps and conspiratorial nooks and crannies, including a daybed. “I took out all the things that annoy me about hotels,” is how Jones describes his approach to St. Clement; this must have included not being able to get a nightcap, because Bobbi’s enjoys a rare 3 a.m. license. Rumors of impromptu piano sing-alongs suggest St. Clement has taken some inspiration from the vibiest London opening of last year — Guinness pilgrimage spot The Devonshire, over in Soho.

Just down the road is the Corner Shop. Another Jones creation, it’s an achingly hip deli-cum-café-cum-wine bar, with menu items handwritten on brown paper bags and artful arrangements of pomegranates and walnuts next to some tea bags with a price tag of $20. I’d never been to a café where patrons do the meerkat move you see at parties — looking over each other’s shoulders in case someone more impressive can be spotted — but this is meerkat manor.

“The staff are very relaxed,” Jones tells me — this is true, a waiter welcomes me with a gesture not far from a shoulder rub — “I want [St. Clement] to feel like home for people coming from New York and L.A.” With a 24-hour health club and spa — including a 25-meter pool flowing parallel to the Thames outside ­— due to open next year, there’s no doubt people traveling in and out of the city will find it a convenient as well as cool-to-be-seen-at spot. For now, Jones insists there are no plans to expand beyond the neighborhood. “The great thing is there’s only one hotel,” he says with a grin. “I can know everyone by name.”