SELFRIDGES GETS APPROVAL FOR MEMBERS-ONLY CLUB IN LONDON

Selfridges has become the latest high-end retailer to open a private membership club, part of a growing trend in London. The club will occupy space that will be converted from a company office into a private terrace and dining room, reminiscent of the Gilded Age offerings at Marshall Fields. Marshal Field’s ornate store in Chicago inspired Selfridges’ founder, Harry Gordon Selfridge, to build Selfridges’ original 1909 flagship store for Selfridges on the corner of Oxford and Duke Streets in London.

Permission for the club was granted by Westminster City Council, the responsible authority for the central London district that includes Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus, and Buckingham Palace. The new private club will reportedly be named 40 Duke, a reference to its location on Duke Street. Membership in the club will be offered on an invitation-only basis.

Details in the proposal approved by the Westminster City Council include that the dining hall will have seating for 80 guests, with an additional 64 seats available on the terrace. According to a quote from the proposal, the space will be “an exclusive new shopping and social destination for its most valued customers and members.”