Soho House Founder: How I Built The World’s Most Exclusive Club: Nick Jones

Nick Jones is the founder of Soho House, the worldwide exclusive private members club worth an incredible $2.8 billion. He’s rewritten the rulebook on hospitality, and his business covers restaurants, hotels, events, and so much more! If you want to know not just how to build a business, but invent a whole industry, this is the conversation for you. If you want to know how to maintain worklife balance while making billions, this is the mentoring you needed to hear. Nick is so calm and collected in his thoughts it’s strange to think it all came so close to crashing down, and his business was born out of his first initial business failure when he had nowhere else to turn. Because when you get knocked down, sometimes that forces you to come back in a whole new way. Follow me: https://beacons.ai/diaryofaceo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

  I wasn't experienced enough, I was too young, you were just branded thick.

• 0:04Steven Bartlett?

  Nick Jones, the founder and CEO of Soho House.

• 0:06Speaker 02

  With an empire of private clubs around the world.

• 0:09Steven Bartlett?

  It's the most see and be seen type of place. Not everyone gets it. Your upbringing is particularly compelling to me because you were somewhat counted out.

• 0:19Speaker 00

  I'm hugely dyslexic. People didn't understand it. You were just branded thick.

• 0:24Steven Bartlett?

  Wow.

• 0:24Speaker 00

  There was not much choice for me.

• 0:27Steven Bartlett?

  You've created a business which brings a lot of people joy. That first Soho House on Greek Street, why did it work?

• 0:33Speaker 00

  I wanted to prove that hospitality could be done differently. I can't think of a time where I was thinking about making an aspirational brand. I've always been obsessed about the member and that was always my number one thing. They've created that.

• 0:49Speaker 00

  If you don't make mistakes, you're not pushing yourself. You're not taking yourself out of your comfort zone. Maybe I was trying to prove to my family that I could do this and I think that's an invaluable lesson.

• 0:59Steven Bartlett?

  At what point does that desire to prove something need to be contained because it might come at the expense of like life balance?

• 1:08Speaker 00

  Um, a very good question and I think.

• 1:13Steven Bartlett?

  So without further ado, I'm Steven Bartlett and this is the Diary of a CEO. I hope nobody's listening, but if you are, then please keep this to yourself.

• 1:29Steven Bartlett?

  Nick, thank you for being here. I have to say, I'm a big fan of the business you've created and I know you don't like the word, but the brand you've built. For many, many reasons that I'm excited to get into, maybe because I'm a marketer, but maybe also just because I'm a customer and someone that loves the Soho House. Brand, but where I wanted to start with you is where I always start and your, your, um, your sort of origin story, your upbringing is particularly compelling to me because.

• 1:58Steven Bartlett?

  By many accounts, even your own, you were somewhat counted out. Is that true?

• 2:04Speaker 00

  Well, my childhood was, I don't think I'd say I was counted out. I was, you know, in a nice, middle-class family where I had two older brothers and a sister, younger sister, mum and dad.

• 2:18Speaker 00

  But my two older brothers were, you know, they were the sort of stars. They were the, they were great at school, they were good at sport, and I was a bit not so good at sport, not so good at school. And it was a sort of different sort of sort of childhood that I suppose that they had. And, you know, I think it probably put me in good stead, but at the time it was probably quite tricky.

• 2:46Steven Bartlett?

  When you say not so good at school, what do you mean specifically?

• 2:49Speaker 00

  Well, just really bad at exams. Yeah, I'm hugely dyslexic. And so I find spelling really difficult. I find pronunciation difficult. I find, you know, all sorts of things difficult at school. I mean, I've since learnt that dyslexia is the greatest thing to have. And but at school it isn't. But I was lucky enough that my mum was all over it. And it was discovered that I was dyslexic at the age of 12, which is very young for a lot of people are still discovering. You know, contemporaries of mine are still discovering a dyslexic right now at the age I am, which is 58.

• 3:31Speaker 00

  So I was lucky and I got support and I sort of got through school by weird things like, they'd give you extra hours on your exam, but I didn't need that. I only needed half the amount of time anyway to fill up the paper because I didn't have enough information. So to get another hour is just another hour of just fiddling around with your pencil. So, yeah.

• 3:59Steven Bartlett?

  The perception towards dyslexia today is it's quite a common thing and people understand it a bit better. But back then, I'm assuming people didn't really understand what it was, or there was a stigma, was there more of a stigma?

• 4:11Speaker 00

  Yeah, I think so. You were just branded thick. And, you know, because if you couldn't read or you couldn't write, I mean, my handwriting is still very not, I try and avoid handwriting at every possibility. So it's still really bad. And I think, yes, people, because people didn't understand it there, but people understand it now and people talk about it and they should talk about it. And it's, to me, it's, you know, if you have dyslexia, you look at things very differently because you have to look at things differently. You have to simplify things. And by simplifying things, I think that gives you a different perspective on things.

• 4:54Steven Bartlett?

  When I say counter, I mean more in the sense of you didn't believe that you would be a success when you were older because of the, because especially when you're at that young age, you assume that those that are getting the best grades and spell the best and do math the best are going to be rich and successful. And then there's us, there's everyone else. So at that young age, you didn't see, you didn't envisage you would be a quote unquote success.

• 5:17Speaker 00

  I didn't, I didn't think either way. I was just sort of thinking of just getting through school and, and, and I wasn't really planning that if I was going to be a success or not a success. And I, I think that's an interesting, how you define success. And I don't think success is just being successful, you know, running a business or creating a business. I think it's, it touches all sorts of things.

• 5:42Steven Bartlett?

  Was there, when I was reading about your parents' dinner parties, that seemed to be the first inspiration for what you would later do in hospitality and restaurants and creating experiences for others. Was that the first sort of spark of inspiration for you?

• 5:58Speaker 00

  Yeah, I, I, I was, while my brothers were on the sports field, I weirdly liked doing the supermarket shop with my mum. You know, I found supermarkets fascinating. I found food fascinating. I then found the whole preparation of how to give people a good time, you know, fascinating. And, you know, I loved watching how you, how you could create an environment where people had a laugh and fun.

• 6:26Steven Bartlett?

  And was that what your parents were doing?

• 6:27Speaker 00

  Well, yeah, they, not all the time. I mean, occasionally they did it, but, but when they did do it, it was, you know, I loved to be part of them trying to create a fun evening. And I think that's probably where I suddenly realised that, you know, hospitality was the route for me, because I, you know, we're going back a long, long time, you know, this was, you know, I'm fifty eight now and I was sort of thirteen at the time and, and I was, I used to, you know, go to the local sports club and work behind the bar, you know, as a clean the glasses. And weirdly, I enjoyed that. I enjoyed the interaction with people. I enjoyed seeing people just have a, have a nice

• 7:09Speaker 00

  time. And, and back then, people were not going into hospitality. I mean, it was really at the bottom of the ladder of, of industries that people went into. So I thought that was an opportunity.

• 7:21Steven Bartlett?

  It's funny because I've sat here with Jimmy Carr and lots of comedians. And when I hear about their sort of inspiration for becoming a comedian, it tends to root back to them being younger and it being the thing that they would see create the most joy in their home. So in the case of Jimmy Carr and Russell, Russell Howard and a few of the other comedians I've sat with, they tell me the story about like the thing that would make my parents the happiest was when I would tell jokes. So that was this sort of psychological reinforcement that led me to be a joke teller for the rest of my life. And when I was reading about those, those dinner parties that your parents had, I was, I was, and also confounded by the fact that you, you know, you said in your own words, you didn't feel like there was a lot of conventional

• 8:00Steven Bartlett?

  avenues available to you because of your dyslexia, that that was the, the combination of factors that caused you to.

• 8:08Speaker 00

  Well, and, and, and I really had to, I mean, when I was at school, I, because I wasn't good at getting exams, I had to rule university out. I had to, there was, there was not much choice for me, you know, there was a person with very few O levels, as, as they were called then, and I think I got an E and an A level. I scraped through on economics, I think. And, you know, with that, there was, there was

• 8:35Speaker 00

  Really not a lot of choice. And, you know, my careers master at school sort of said is, I think it's catering, Nick. So when my, when my careers master said that, I, I, I sort of thought, and, and also the fact that I thought there was real opportunity in this. And my, my dad owned a small, um, insurance broking company. And my brothers went into work there. And I think my dad was keen for me to go and work there, but I, I didn't find insurance very exciting. I still don't. And, and, and I didn't find that world of working in the city and insurance. And being a insurance broker, interesting at all. So I, I did have that as an opportunity.

• 9:18Speaker 00

  But I really felt I wanted to try hospitality and catering.

• 9:23Steven Bartlett?

  As you, as you started your journey into hospitality and catering, did you start to at any point figure out that you were, you had some kind of area of brilliance? There was something you were good at compared to others.

• 9:34Speaker 00

  No, I remember clearly the first, no, I didn't, the answer to that was, is definitely no. Um, I, my, my, my first day, I, I, I worked for Trust House Forte. I was a, a management trainee. And it was a five year course. And I, I, I applied to the Savoy management, um, training course to start with. And they, I, I, I remember it to this day, the interview I had, um, and I just froze. I couldn't speak. I was so nervous. I, I absolutely froze. And, cause I was a pretty shy kid. And, you know, I, I was shy at seventeen when I was going for these interviews. And I just was, it, I, I just got stage fright. I just couldn't, my mouth, no words came out of my mouth.

• 10:20Speaker 00

  And I didn't get into the Savoy management course, but then I applied for Trust House Forte. And luckily, when I went for the interview, I was able to talk. And I got onto a, a, a, a, a five year course. And my first part of the course was a year in the kitchens. And it was at St George's Hotel in Langham Place, which is just here in London, um, off Oxford Street. And I arrived and the chef looked me up and down. And he he he he he called me a nickname, which I'm not gonna say on this. It began with a C. And and um he threw a sack of potatoes at me, which landed in my belly. And he said, peel them.

• 11:05Speaker 00

  And so I went off to the area where you peel the potatoes. And I hadn't really ever used a knife before. And the first one, the first potato, I cut my my my my finger and I thought, oh, God, how do I hide hide this? And the water I was putting the potatoes in was getting redder and redder and redder. And I and I thought, oh, no, this was my first day. And the nickname stuck. Um, and I I I was really sort of learning on the job, which I think is a really great way to learn anything. And I kept making mistakes, but I I was determined to to sort of fit in to the kitchen. Because it was an environment, you know, because I came from this sort of cotton wool um middle class background.

• 11:46Speaker 00

  And then going into the kitchen into the early eighties where where, you know, it it it they it was long hours and and and they they, you know, someone who comes in with a slightly posh accent. And, you know, they they they they they it was it, but it was a it was a good moment. It was a good moment for me.

• 12:05Steven Bartlett?

  Was it um what was it about that? Because that sounds pretty horrific. And I've, having worked in a kitchen, my my mum had a restaurant at a very young age. I started working there at seven, super high stressful, people always complaining, it's hot in there. Um, that, I mean, people weren't throwing things at me and calling me the C word, but it wasn't, it was really unpleasant. So I'm wondering what in that context, like, despite of all of that, tickled your fancy?

• 12:30Speaker 00

  Well, do you know what it was? It was, I was coming out my shyness. I was learning how to get on with people. And, you know, I was, I went to a private school. I was surrounded by people who went to private school, which is seven percent of the population. And by going into the the the the um kitchen, you you really learnt to really get on with everyone. And uh and.

• 12:56Speaker 00

  I think that's an invaluable lesson and I really became friendly with a lot of the chefs and would go out with them at night and I just enjoyed it and even though it was hard, I just enjoyed the environment. I enjoyed creating food. I enjoyed the buzz. I enjoyed, I didn't mind the heat. I didn't mind the fact that it was, it was, it was long hours. I just enjoyed it.

• 13:20Steven Bartlett?

  If I had spoken to maybe your colleague or someone that was maybe above you and a line manager at that time and said, what is Nick good at? What would they have said to me?

• 13:27Speaker 00

  I, I'd like to think, um, not peeling potatoes or making porridge, but you know, getting on with people and being part of a team and, and getting stuck in.

• 13:41Steven Bartlett?

  You said earlier that dyslexia was, um, is actually a great gift. Can you explain why, um, why you've now come to believe that is, that is a real sort of superpower for you?

• 13:51Speaker 00

  Well, I, I, I wouldn't say it's a superpower, but I, I, I talk a lot about dyslexic because I really want people to feel that if they have, if they, if they get the tests and they're dyslexic, I don't want them to ever feel bad. I want them to feel good and go, well, this is a huge opportunity because I think when you look at things differently and the reason, one thing being dyslexic, I have to simplify everything all the time. I have to, I have to, I, I want something on one sheet of paper. I don't want it on four sheets of paper. I want, I, I, I want everything to be scaled down and simplified. And I think we live in a world where everyone's over complicating things always and, and, you know, and it, it doesn't matter what area of the business I work in now, whether

• 14:34Speaker 00

  it's the designers or the chefs or the tech people, you know, it's all over complicated and I spend a lot of my time just editing down and, and, and simplifying it. And I think dyslexic, being dyslexic has made me do that, you know, because it's the easy route because complication panics me and confuses me. So I spend a lot of time simplifying and I think when you do simplify things, people understand it, they get it, they like it.

• 15:03Steven Bartlett?

  Yeah, so true. Someone once said to me, a phrase I always forget, which is if someone's ability to simplify something also correlates their ability to truly understand it. And typically, when you meet these like salesmen that are trying to blag you in some way, they purposely overcomplicate something. And sometimes they don't actually understand what they're saying. But distilling it to simplicity gets it closer to truth. And it's also a sign that the person communicating it really truly understands the essence of the idea or the concept. By 22, you started your own restaurant chain.

• 15:36Speaker 00

  Well, I went round lots of departments within Trust House Forte, from front desk to bar to housekeeping. I was a housekeeper at the, you know, cleaned the rooms at the Westbury Hotel in Conduit Street. I was a barman at Brands Hotel in Albemarle Street.

• 15:57Speaker 00

  Yeah, I remember clearly, you know, serving, being the barman. And I remember making cocktails for George Best. That was a, that was a highlight of, he was such a nice guy. And, and I suppose at that time, I always thought the determination was to open something, to open my own restaurant. This is, you know, I want to learn this. And then I ended up doing marketing at Trust House Forte. And then I was marketing manager at Gravenor House in Park Lane. And it wasn't because I was brilliant today. It was, you know, it was cheap, you know, I just was, I didn't just cost a lot of money. And they could, that's what they were looking for at that precise moment. And, but I always, when I was working there, I was always working

• 16:40Speaker 00

  on a plan to, to, to, you know, not work for Trust House Forte, which was a big, big hotel company. And I was thinking, you know, I want to get out of this at some stage. I don't want to keep going on the ladder when, you know, you keep getting, hopefully I would kept being promoted into other jobs. But, and then it would have been too difficult to leave. So I thought, I want to go when I'm still relatively at the bottom. And then I, I went and tried working in fast food restaurants or sort of casual restaurants. I went to work at Maxwell's in Covent Garden as a night manager. I then, I then went to work at Pasta Mania as a sort of. Junior manager and then during that time I was building my plan to open my first restaurant,

• 17:24Speaker 00

  which was called Over the Top and that opened in nineteen eighty eight and it was, you know, it was, I was too young, I wasn't experienced enough, um. It was, it was terrible. It, the, the design, which is something I'm obsessed with now and I love design, you know, and I, that was my first design outing and it really was terrible. Um, the food was, you know, really bad. Yeah, my friends had to come, you know, and that, that, that showed, I really knew who my friends were because they would come and support me in the restaurant, but it was a, it was, it was, it was, it was a a good experience of getting something really wrong.

• 18:07Steven Bartlett?

  It's not cheap to open a restaurant. How did you, how did you fund that at twenty?

• 18:10Speaker 00

  Well, I, I, my, my dad put a bit of money in, family friends put a bit of money in and I got the bank to put some money in. Um, so I was lucky, you know, I was given that chance to be able to open my first restaurant. And it's something, you know, I want, you know, we, we do a lot now. I, I love people doing that. When anyone comes to me and wants to be an entrepreneur and start something up, I really make time to see them and help them. And, you know, I was lucky, I was given an opportunity. And, yeah, I, I learnt a lot.

• 18:47Steven Bartlett?

  That's, I guess, would increase the pressure if you've got family betting on you.

• 18:52Speaker 00

  Yeah, I, I, I think, I, I, I never, they never made me feel like that. You know, my dad, you know, um, I think he was proud that I was trying to do something. I was trying to do something on my own because he had his own small business. But he never made me feel like that. And the other shareholders, you know, I think in their head, they, they, when they first came and tried the restaurant, they sort of probably knew that it wasn't going to lead anywhere, but actually. You know, the the the company is still the same company as it is today. It's a it never went it never it never went bust. We we we we we we hang on in there and um you know, eventually opened Cafe Boheme in ninety two.

• 19:35Speaker 00

  Um with which was really all the experience of getting over the top so wrong. And let me explain what over the top was. It was it was it you either chose a burger, a piece of chicken, a bit of lamb or a steak. And over the top of it, you could choose one of ten sources. But the sources were terrible and and it was just it was just bad and um you know, uh it it it just sort of taught me, you know, how to manage a business with little cash and with no cash, how to pay the staff every week, how to use initiatives to try and get more customers in. And I think it taught me at a very early age.

• 20:20Speaker 00

  You know, marketing restaurants is not the way to sell the restaurant. You just have to make the restaurant good because the customer is so clever. They know what good is and they know what bad is. And it taught me that very early on. There was no way that you could you don't you can't fool a customer. They they they they they know. And you could walk into over the top and you could sort of feel, you know, you could sense that it wasn't wasn't wasn't wasn't good enough. But what I learned at that time was it it's sort of it. I didn't feel it was a failure. I just thought it was I was on a a journey of learning. And I really, even now, encourage all our people that making a mistake is not a problem.

• 21:05Speaker 00

  You know, if you don't make mistakes, you're not pushing yourself, you're not trying, you're not you're not you're not taking yourself out of your comfort zone. And so, you know, I really encourage people to think that, you know, failure is not what it sounds like, you know, okay, it's just part of the journey.

• 21:23Steven Bartlett?

  What did, what did that process teach you about feedback? I, I asked that because in my first business, I was, I had this, it was a tech business and I was very romantic about this hypothesis, about the way that I thought my customers would behave and about the solution that I thought that they would care about. And I spent too long not listening to their feedback and ultimately that was pretty fatal. And I just wish earlier I'd been less romantic and stubborn almost about what I thought the customer would want and, and, and listen. But I'm wondering what that first failure taught you about the importance of what feedback you listen to and how you listen to it.

• 21:57Speaker 00

  Well, I think feedback's key. And people being on, it's funny, being, being a Brit, people are funny about complaining, aren't they? They're, they're, they're in restaurants, they, they, they think it will offend you. They, they, they think, well, I'm not gonna, I can't complain to Nick about, I had a bad meal last night. Cause he, he might be, you know, that might upset him. But to me, you know, you can only get better by getting really honest feedback. And I'm lucky now because I have members who all have my email address and, and, and, you know, they're, they're, they're, if they're not happy, they, they email me. So I think listening to feedback is super, super important.

• 22:34Steven Bartlett?

  Did you listen to it and, at over the top?

• 22:37Speaker 00

  Well, I could just see it because there wasn't many people to give feedback to.

• 22:42Speaker 00

  I, I wish there was more customers in there giving me feedback. But you know, people did give feedback and, and, but I didn't have the tools to be able to get it better. I didn't know, you know, you started, I started going down a, the sort of, I, it, it, because we kept running out of money. So, you know, you kept cutting, cutting the, you know, the team down. So there just wasn't, you know, if, at the end, it was just, just me in the kitchen serving. And we even set up a delivery service to try and, try and, try and, um, uh, booster sales, but that didn't work.

• 23:20Steven Bartlett?

  I, I was so, um, really inspired by you saying that the customer is smart. And also you, you alluded to the fact that the best marketing is word of mouth.

• 23:29Speaker 00

  Yeah, absolutely.

• 23:31Steven Bartlett?

  That that really is at the heart of what you even do today is is a belief in the customers.

• 23:36Speaker 00

  Yeah, I I'm very lucky that we have fantastic members who are loyal and and, you know, they they, you know, I I if anyone says that we've done okay, or I've done okay, it's thanks to our members. And, um, you know, our members are the people who pushed me from doing Soho House, you know, the original Soho House on Greek Street, where, yeah, it worked. There were hairy moments, you know, when I thought it really wasn't going to work. Um, and, you know, it would go quiet or it would go, you know, I I remember the first year we opened

• 24:17Speaker 00

  in in May, it suddenly gone quiet. We'd opened in January. I thought, oh, God, that I thought it would last a bit longer than this. And, you know, a member turned around to me and said, when when they're all down at the Cannes Film Festival, you know, that's where your members are. So I suddenly thought, well, next year, I'm going to go down and create a pop up down there. And this was pre-pop ups, you know, this was in ninety six. And so we rented a boat, um, in the harbour. And I remember, in fact, I remember clearly because there was there was a lady who still works for us to this day, Veronique, and and her and I had to fill up this lorry full of stuff in London to drive down to, I didn't drive a lorry because I couldn't drive a lorry,

• 25:00Speaker 00

  but to go down to the south of France, Cannes, and we opened this boat. And it was like a temporary club for the ten days of the Cannes Film Festival. And members, you know, if they weren't in London, they could come to the club in in the the the boat in the harbour. And that, we did that for lots of years. And it was, I think our members really enjoyed that. And that sort of taught me again, where wherever the member was going, go. So, you know, because if I hadn't, you know, I was, I didn't understand the film business or the media business. I was in catering hospitality. So I was, I was, I was sort of new to this. And, you know, when I first created the first ever committee at Soho House,

• 25:41Speaker 00

  you know, I was really knocking on doors and and phoning people, cold calling them, saying, do you mind? And and you had to sort of explain what you were trying to do to get them to come on the committee. And that was where our first five hundred members came from. And And I think there, I've always just listened to the member, you know, they they kept saying, well, Nick, it's great, this one, why didn't you do one in the country? And I go, oh, let's do one in the country then. So off I go, I phone Savills up and I say, any, any hotels for sale? I didn't have any money, but I thought, well, I'm going to go on that route and see how I could, I could um,

• 26:20Speaker 00

  get, get, get somewhere in the country. And I remember stumbling across Babington House and, and I remember it was, it was on the market for, um, you know, a million, million and a half pounds. Um, this was back in, in a long time ago. And, and um, I remember driving up the drive and as soon as you drive up the drive at Babington, you sort of fall in love with a place. And I fell in love with the place and I thought, oh my God, how, how, how am I going to get planning permission to turn this into a hotel? And how am I going to have enough money to buy it? I had just a small amount of money just to put the deposit down. And luckily, um, the people who were selling it, um,

• 27:06Speaker 00

  they, they, um, they said, well, we want to stay here for the summer. We, you know, we want to, we, we want to exchange and then we will complete in nine months' time. And I thought, yes, you know, and then it gave me nine months, um, um, to, um, to find the money and get the planning permission and raise the money with our members to, to, to pay for the completion and also to pay for the refurbishment. And I, I, I sort of just remember even before we exchanged, the agent phoned me up and said, you know, um, a hire offer's gone in. So I was sort of being guzzumped and I thought.

• 27:47Speaker 00

  Well, I don't have the money anyway, so I can put another couple hundred grand on it. Cause of, and so I, I increased my offer. I, I got Babbington House and um, you know, I was able to raise the money. We, and we raised the money through our members, you know, lots of members put sort of five grand in. Um, and that's how I was able to get the money to open Babbington House. So it was a, it was a led by our members, sort of the, the, the members helped invest in it. You know, they luckily have all got their money back, plus, plus. And um, you know, then that was the second thing we opened.

• 28:29Speaker 00

  That first Soho House on Greek Street, why did it work?

• 28:35Speaker 00

  You know, I was running the restaurant downstairs, Cafe Bohème. That was my survival. Cafe Bohème was, you know, it was the same company as Over the Top. It was, it was, it was me doing everything totally different to what Over the Top was. So the food was edible and nice, the, the service was good, the atmosphere, you know. And in fact, I was in there last night and it was, you know, it, it made me very happy because it was packed and it was fun. And when the building came a, a, available above Cafe Bohème, which is on Greek Street in London. Um, I, the landlord phoned me up. And they said, well, do you fancy taking the space above? And I go, well, what on earth for?

• 29:19Speaker 00

  You know, there was no plan to do a private members club. My plan was just to survive and make Cafe Bohème work after four years of attempting Over the Top. And I still do this today. I always look at everything. I, when people phone me and say there's an idea, I always go and have a look. And so I, I said, okay, well, I'll go and have a look. So I wandered around the offices and it was a small door, you know, um, on, on Greek Street, forty Greek Street. And And I thought, hmm, hmm, and I hadn't been to a private members' club, you know, I wasn't, I wasn't part of a Groucho Club. I wasn't, I wasn't, I wasn't part of that, that, that, well, it was only the Groucho Club, although there were all those clubs down in Pall Mall. I wasn't part of that. Maybe that's a good thing.

• 30:02Speaker 00

  Yes, and I, and I, I looked around and I thought, oh God, this is like a home away from home and, and, and, you know, God, this is, this could work, how could I, you know, this, this, this is an idea, so, but I didn't have any money. So, um, again, and, um, I went to see, um, my landlord, which is Paul Raymond, um, and I, I went to see him and he said, well, you, do you want to take it? And I said, well, yeah, I'd love to take it, but what, would you invest? Because the family investment and for over the top, they had had totally enough. They, they, they, they were out, you know, the banks were trying to pull out of, you know, trying to get their loan back.

• 30:45Speaker 00

  It was, that, that bit of it was, you know, just, it was, it was, it was, that bit of the family help was done, finished. And so I thought, well, how am I going to raise the money for this? Cause it's going to be separate. I'm going to have to do this separately to what Cafe Bo M is. And so I went to see Paul Raymond, he said, I'm not investing, I don't invest in other people's businesses. And then it was when I was leaving, he said, well, what happens if I put the money in, but just added it to your rent? So you ended up with a higher rent, you know, a percentage of the money he put in was added to my rent. And I thought, well. To do the fit out?

• 31:27Speaker 00

  To do the fit out. Um, and I thought, okay, well, that sounds like it can work. So I set up Soho House, it was, it, it was simple to come up with a name, it was a house in Soho. The logo was pretty simple, it was, it was so simple, it was three buildings, three floors. Um, and, and I, and, but I owned a hundred percent of it because.

• 31:51Speaker 00

  The Café Bohemian lot, you know, my, my family didn't want anything to do with it. And, and the other investors. And I thought, well, you know, when Soho House works, I'm going to transfer everything back to the, you know, the same percentages as it was as when it was over the top. So I merged the two companies. So I didn't want, um, I didn't want to be a success on one hand in, on, on Soho and, and they were suffering on Café Bohemian and over the top. So we merged it all together and, and we found the members and, and, and, you know, a lot of the people who opened Soho House in ninety five still are part of Soho

• 32:32Speaker 00

  House to work. Um, you know, the, the guy Pierre, who was the server in, in, in, um, the blue dining room, the, the, the blue room in the, in the restaurant now runs North America for us. And, um, Marcus Anderson, who is, runs our membership, part of our membership team, who was a server in one of the dining rooms. So the guy Marcus Barwell was a barman in the circle bar. Now he's managing director of Soho House Design. So it's lovely seeing, you know, people who were right there at the beginning still be part of a company now. And it, it, but it was, it was a journey as well. It was, we

• 33:15Speaker 00

  were moving into this sort of new area of membership, understanding membership, understanding, looking after people and, and just listening to your members. Cause I'm sort of going back to your original sort of feedback question. So the feedback and which comes from our members has sort of really helped us where we are today.

• 33:33Steven Bartlett?

  Was Café Bohemian successful when you embarked on the Soho House journey upstairs?

• 33:39Speaker 00

  Yes, but it was having to be on top of a disaster of Soho House. So it was a quite a lot of, there was a lot of sort of, um, it was the same company. And, and so, yes, it worked. Café Bohemian worked. It gave me the confidence to do something else. It, it worked because, um, It, it, you know, it was, it was thirty years ago. So, and there weren't many places. I don't think there were many places which were opened at eight in the morning and closed at three in the morning. And you could go in there and eat whatever you wanted, or just have a coffee, or just have a drink. It, it, the kitchen was always open. You could, you know, drink jugs of beer,

• 34:24Speaker 00

  or you could have a steak frite, or, and we had jazz in the afternoons. It was really creating, it, it sort of really created a real regular following within Soho. And it was the, the turning point, really, of the disaster of over time.

• 34:42Steven Bartlett?

  So when you look back then on that Soho House, a lot of people, I'm sure, started very similar style businesses around the time. I'm trying to figure out why Soho House went on to become what it is today. What were the, the factors that, in your view, you talked about customer feedback shaping everything, but?

• 34:59Speaker 00

  Well, I would, I would give that accolade to our members. I would, I would say it was the members who pushed me. And, and, you know, when they, when we opened in New York, you know, they, because we, I think we'd opened the Electric House, we'd, we were about three then. And, and someone said, well, you should open in New York. I'd love this. I'll have a, ooh, yes, maybe. So, off I go to New York and, and, and determined to open a Soho House in New York. First of all, look in the district of Soho, and couldn't find something. Came close. It was difficult,

• 35:37Speaker 00

  learning permitting. It was, it was just difficult. And I remember, we found the warehouse. It was an old electrical warehouse, a meatpacking. Meatpacking was a very different place to what it is now. It was rundown. It was, you know, it was, it was full of, sort of, it was full of really interesting life. And, and I remember we found this, this, this, this warehouse. And I thought, okay, I'm gonna get. Get the warehouse. And again, we had to raise money to do it. So it was a question of trying to,

• 36:18Speaker 00

  how do you get raise money in New York? Because we, we, you know, the, it was, it was sort of a bad time in the UK. It was, I think it might have been a recession going on. So the, the banks were, you're not gonna, we're not lending you money in New York. So I thought, okay, well, I gotta start raising money again from our members and from people in New York to put money into the cellar house in New York. And I, I, I, it was, everything was nerve wracking, you know, the, the, the week. I was flying out there to try and get the permit to be able to allow to open a club in the, in a warehouse was nine eleven. So I arrived on, I think it was a Monday evening and I was nervous because it was this big,

• 37:02Speaker 00

  big meeting on the Thursday where in, in front of a local community board to see whether we'd get permission to be able to, open up a club and have a license in, in this premises. And I was having breakfast.

• 37:18Speaker 00

  On the Tuesday morning, the, the nine eleven. And I was having a boiled egg, I remember it. And as I was hitting my boiled egg, I heard this big bang. And, and I thought, what is that? So I, I ran out on the street and I looked up and I could see, one of the twin towers with smoke coming out of it. And I asked,

• 37:44Speaker 00

  there's a guy sweeping the street. I said, well, what happened? He said, well, a plane went into the side of it. And I said, well, was it just a, what did it look, was it, he said it was an airliner. It was, so it wasn't like a private plane. And I thought, oh my God. So the first thing I did was phone Kirsty, my wife. Because she was in news then, she was a news presenter on ITN. And I said, I think, I think maybe you should get into work. Something going on here. And, and then, and then I was still out on the street and I saw the second plane go in.

• 38:16Steven Bartlett?

  You saw it coming?

• 38:17Speaker 00

  Yeah. Well, you, you, it was coming in from the, the river. So you didn't actually see it coming in, but you saw the impact of it coming in. And, and then, you know, that day was, it, it made me really fall in love with New York. It's sort of the resistance of the people, uh, how, how they cope with it, how they, it was, it was, it was amazing, the people of New York that day, um, and that, that week. And, and anyway, weirdly, the community board still happened on the Thursday. And I went up and did my presentation. I said, I, I, I don't know why I'm doing this.

• 38:57Speaker 00

  It seems irrelevant. It seems not, not something we should be doing, but, you know, you're, you're running the meeting. There was a lot of other points on the agenda. So I was just one of them and we got our permission. Um, and that's how New York started, but it was a big, big sort of, um, race to find the finance. And I was calling everyone. I was, I was calling everyone. I did more show rounds of that, that, that, that warehouse building, you know, running up and down the stairs, showing people around, trying to be enthusiastic. And then, you know, I was sort of getting to know people in New York

• 39:38Speaker 00

  and I put together this hard hat dinner, um, where, yeah, I, I, I don't know how it happened and I don't know, um, why it happened, um, but, you know, the really well-known people turned up to this dinner. And we had just had a six burner on the sixth floor and we cooked some chicken and we laid up the table in the building site on, with a white tablecloth. So it was real grit and glamour. And it was, it was, and, and these people just turned up and I remember David Bowie been there. And I'm going, uh, and I, I remember, I was so nervous. I was, I, I, I, and I,

• 40:21Speaker 00

  and I, I started talking to him and he said, this is a great idea. Can I buy it?

• 40:28Speaker 00

  And I said, well, there's nothing to buy at the moment, but can you invest in it? Yes. And, and so he was one, he was one of the investors of, of, of Soho House New York, which was fantastic. And, and, and then momentum came and we rose, raised the money. Everyone sort of before that was saying a private members club wouldn't work in New York. You know, it, it, the, the, it, people wouldn't pay a membership fee. People treat their restaurants like private members clubs and the velvet rope was the big thing in New York. Um, and I wobbled so often about, should we charge for membership? And, and every, I, I was so nervous opening Soho House New York. And I remember the opening

• 41:13Speaker 00

  party. Um, and it was raining and they hadn't finished putting the roof on. And, and people were staying in the hotel and there was no water. So we had to borrow the showers at the local gym. People had to go to the local gym, um, for hot water. We had water, but it was no, no hot water. And it was just this roller coaster of an experience opening in New York where we didn't quite have enough money. Um, and you know, the team, you know, my, we were carrying sheet, sheet rock or it's plasterboard over here and sheet rock over there up to the floors to try and finish them. We're putting the ceilings in and, and

• 41:55Speaker 00

  it was a, it was a, it was a, it was a journey. But then eventually we opened and it, it worked. It's sort of, people sort of took to it.

• 42:05Steven Bartlett?

  Why bother? You know, like you had a great business here in London, you know, things are going well. Why, why put yourself through all that pain?

• 42:13Speaker 00

  Um, a very good question. And I think I could have just carried on doing things in London, but I, there, there was an ambition in me. There was, you know, there was this, this thing about being a Brit and going to New York and trying to take the thing which I loved in London and see if it worked in New York. And it was, and it, and at points it nearly took the whole thing down. And, but I really felt at the time that. If it did bring the whole thing down, at least I tried, at least I gave it a go. And I wasn't going to be sitting in a rocking chair thinking I didn't give it a go.

• 42:54Speaker 00

  So I think there was a sort of inner something in me which wanted to see. And maybe it was sort of going back to my childhood when my brothers were so good on the sports field or or good at school, I was trying to prove a point.

• 43:10Steven Bartlett?

  Because I because I sense that a lot, even when you had this, you know, successful cafe, for you then to take the risk of taking upstairs with an unknown idea, just because someone said it's available. And it's that, you know, some people are more like the, I don't know, they stay within the zone of comfort and they just harvest. But you have this hunting sort of predisposition as well, even when things are going well.

• 43:30Speaker 00

  So what I, there's something inside me.

• 43:36Speaker 00

  Maybe I was trying to prove to my brothers, my family that I I could do this. And and, yeah, I and I do always look at things in a positive light. I do look at things I, you know, if I look at a glass of water, I say that's half full, not half empty. And and and hospitality, I wanted to prove that hospitality could be done differently. And I think with Cafe Boheme, where we opened it all day and it was chameleon. It just kept changing to the time of day it was and putting jazz on in the afternoon. And just sort of making it much more customer focused, where you would go out forty years ago

• 44:20Speaker 00

  and kitchens would close at two P M and you couldn't eat in the afternoon. And I think that was something I I felt I was on to something to be able to make it better for the customer. And that sort of took me back to when I liked helping my mum and dad when they had people around for supper. And I loved seeing rooms full of people having a good time in Cafe Boheme. And I loved laughter, I loved people connecting with each other, I loved people enjoying themselves. And I think I just thought, why don't I just carry on doing this?

• 44:55Steven Bartlett?

  At what point does that desire to prove something need to be contained? Because it might come at the expense of like life balance. You know, this question I've asked myself a lot, it's like when you are successful in one thing, you have more opportunities to go and do more things. And then you might end up being pulled so much by your ambition and your desire to prove a point or your insecurities that you then end up compromising all of these other things like friendships and the other things that make life fulfilling.

• 45:24Speaker 00

  Yeah, and I it's a it's a balance I've never quite got right. And I'm super lucky, I have an incredibly supportive wife, Kirsty. And she she sort of really went on the journey with me. And I know without her, you know, I wouldn't be, you wouldn't be asking me on to this podcast. And, um, you know, so she's been a great support. And my kids, you know, were sort of part of, you know, they they had to come to work. They, you know, when I was doing the rounds on a Saturday morning or during weekends,

• 46:05Speaker 00

  I'd have pushchairs and toddlers and, you know, they they were just part of what was going on. And it had to sort of merge into one thing. And what I've successfully done is try and demerge it and have, you know, a when I'm at work, I'm at work and when I have family, I'm with family and that, but that's taken a long time. So the the the the balance is is something I think all entrepreneurs suffer.

• 46:38Steven Bartlett?

  You say it's a balance you've not got right. What was the indicator that you didn't get it right? How did you know you didn't get it right? What was the symptom?

• 46:45Speaker 00

  I was always knackered. I was always sort of pretending not to be. I was always sort of, yeah, um, yeah, it was, yeah, I was internally coping with all the pressure where I could, but I wasn't doing that very well.

• 47:04Speaker 00

  So I think it was sort of a combination of, of, of just realising that, you know, this was all consuming. It was, it was, it was really dragging. And, and I was very lucky. I had, you know, great friends who are still my friends from when I was a kid. And I didn't see them enough. And you sort of, in our business hospitality, it is weekends, it's nights, it's days, it's, it's, it's all the time. And when you take it to a different country, then you have to think, well, the days just got longer and, and, and it's got five years, you know, go to New York, got five hours longer.

• 47:47Speaker 00

  And so, yes, it, it does take its toll.

• 47:51Steven Bartlett?

  What is that toll? You said about coping with pressure.

• 47:54Speaker 00

  Well, I, I, I think, you know, I, I sit here today and I think I'm lucky because I think I got a great, you know, I, I have a great relationship with my kids. I, you know, it's my favourite thing has been with, with the family and been, been, been with them all together. So, um, but I, I think at times when you're trying to prove yourself, I'm trying to prove that I could work in New York, in America. I was trying to prove that we could open cellar houses in other parts of the world. I, I think it, it, it, it, it was hard, but you know, you suddenly then do realise that you have to sort of balance it.

• 48:38Steven Bartlett?

  Is, was there, was there a point in your journey that it was, so the pressure becomes so much and you almost feel within your being, whether it's your health gives out or your, your mental health, where you get anxious, where you think this is not, this is not sustainable?

• 48:53Speaker 00

  I I I never thought it wasn't sustainable because I'm always such a positive person. But I think, you know, Kirsty was great, you know, she kept saying, you know, we don't need anymore. This is, we don't need another house. The world doesn't need another house, Nick.

• 49:10Speaker 00

  The, the, you know, you don't need to be on a plane all the time. What, who are you, what are you trying to prove? And, and there was a stage where I was buzzing around everywhere, flying here, flying there. And, and thinking it was all making a big difference. But really, and I think the pandemic taught me that, was the fact that there's better ways of using your time.

• 49:32Steven Bartlett?

  And what are those better ways of using your?

• 49:34Speaker 00

  Well, you know, instead of buzzing around on a plane all the time and spending 12 hours in a city and then going to another city or doing one night and one, you sort of where, you know, the teams are clever enough to put on a bit of a show for that, that, that period of time. So you're not actually seeing really what's going on. And it was just smarter ways of doing it. And, and, and also having a lot more trust in the senior leadership team. And letting them get on with it and thinking that I didn't have to be everywhere for it to work. And actually, often it worked much better when I wasn't around. And, and, and I mean, I, I, I, you know, because they were able to just get on with it, not worry about what I was thinking all the time.

• 50:18Steven Bartlett?

  That sounds like great advice for a younger version of Nick at the start of the Soho House journey. What else would you say now in hindsight, you wish someone had, maybe they said it, but you'd wish you had known about how to achieve, get to where you are now or further. But in a more effective, whether that relates to health or finance way. What, what would be that advice you'd give to that Nick starting out on the Soho House journey?

• 50:41Speaker 00

  Well, I've always been obsessed about the customer, the member. And that was always my number one thing and the people who worked for us. They, they were my two obsessions. And I, the advice I think I'd give to a young, young, young Nick would be, you know,

• 50:59Speaker 00

  Let them take more. Don't think you have to, you know, your team, you know, put it more onto your team to get on with it and don't try and do everything yourself. And also, you know, there's a, there's a point when you have, can prove yourself that you can, these things can work globally. And, you know, there's a time when, you know, you have to really properly delegate and let other people get on with it.

• 51:27Steven Bartlett?

  What are the, you know, because one of the things that So House is known for is this quote unquote brand. And I know you don't like that word, but this very, um, I think I would say it was an aspirational brand. People want to be a So House person. How much intentionality, I don't even know if that's a word, has gone into making that brand aspirational?

• 51:48Speaker 00

  I, I, I can't think of a time where we had a time where I was thinking about making an aspirational brand. I think it, that's, and if that's people's perception, great. I'm really, I'm, I'm, I'm, that, that sounds good. And I, I, all I concentrated on what our members wanted and um, they've created that. They have created the, the, the, the, the, the fact that, you know, there's a desirability to be part of So House. And yes, we, and we, and we got a brilliant team, brilliant membership teams globally. We got,

• 52:30Speaker 00

  we got people who really care, people who have been on the journey for a very long time. And I think with their help and with every house, we have a determination to make it better than the last house. You know, we always start with a fresh piece of paper. We don't think, well, you know, let's just keep, repeat, repeat, repeat. We go new, new, new. How can we make it better? What are we going to change to make this better? What are we going to change to make it more efficient? What are we going to change to make it better for the member? And I think our members really appreciate that and they see that and they talk about that. And that's probably what's created what you have just described.

• 53:13Steven Bartlett?

  What has in hospitality taught you about life?

• 53:16Speaker 00

  Everything. I sort of think, you know, it should be the national service. People should go and do a year in hospitality because I think it teaches you so much. I mean, I spoke earlier about me going into that kitchen and really learning how to get on with people. And from different backgrounds, different countries, different, different, everything. And I think it really teaches you, you know, to be part of a team and there's a customer, there's all your, you know, people you work with in the kitchen or the person cleaning the dishes or the person, you know, cleaning the rooms.

• 53:56Speaker 00

  You all have to work together to make it happen. And I think so it really takes the shyness out of you and it gets, gives you an ability to get on with people, which I think is a really useful tool. I think it's better than a, a, a master degree, I think, getting on with people. I think you learn, you know, just useful, practical things like making a bed or keeping the place tidy or clearing a table of plates and, and, and when you, when you've got a family gathering or something, you can suddenly clear the plates and stack them up or you can, you can, you can make a cocktail, you know, which is really nice. You know, you, you, that doesn't, you don't, even if you're not in hospitality anymore, you can still make a cocktail.

• 54:37Speaker 00

  You can still make a bed, you can still hopefully get on with people, you can still, you know, clear a table. You, you, you, you have to become quite organized in your mind. And I think hospitality is a very rewarding industry for that.

• 54:51Steven Bartlett?

  Hospitality is quite a, quite a broad term, but at the crux of it, what do you think it is that you're actually selling to people? What, what are they buying from you?

• 54:59Speaker 00

  Well, I think what we want our member to do is flourish. You know, we want them to flourish socially and we want them to flourish, you know, at work. And I think creating memberships and, you know, word, community of people who are sort of like minded and, and they all have a creative soul and you put them. In one house, you know, that is like, you know, they bump into each other, they talk to each other. I've seen businesses created, I've seen relationships created, friendships created, ideas created.

• 55:40Speaker 00

  And, and I think when you put people together in a space and, and, and it, that is, that is pretty special. And to see that happen in different countries and different cities, to see members sort of really using the fact that you go into the house, you can just go into the house on your own, just wander down there. And, you know, you'll bump into someone, you'll start having a drink with someone or a cup of coffee with someone or you, and you're sort of, you're, you're in the house, you're part, part of that membership and I, and I, you know, people do it, you know, a lot now. And, you know, you can do it digitally and they use algorithms and they use all sorts of things.

• 56:21Speaker 00

  And I think, you know, being part of So House and, you know, those five hundred members I talked to you about earlier, you know, they're still part of us, they still pay their membership, they're still here, they're still part of it, they don't give it up. And, and so you, on one hand, the, the original founder members of twenty seven, twenty eight years ago. And then on the other hand, you've got, you know, huge under twenty seven membership going into our houses. Huge, you know, it accounts for twenty two, twenty three percent of our overall membership, you know, under twenty sevens. And it, it's, it's seeing in a room, you know, the most successful script writer in one corner.

• 57:03Speaker 00

  And in another corner, there might be the struggling script writer who's still trying to write, you know, their first script. Or, you know, the art, a really well-known artist or an artist who hasn't sold, a, a, a new painter who hasn't sold their first bit of work. And, you know, and taking that and, and trying to think, well, how can the person who's done it help the person who wants to do it? And.

• 57:29Speaker 00

  Yeah, that's why I'm so passionate about our mentoring scheme where, you know, there is so much creativity in the world and there's so much creativity, you know, and creativity is not owned by the middle class, it's everywhere. And to be able to offer mentoring to people who are less fortunate, who might not be able to afford a membership or might not know what door to knock to get that opportunity is sort of one of the favorite things that we're doing. My favorite things I'm doing at the moment is seeing it happen. So going back to what you were saying about creating people in a room who all help each other. They all feel like they're looking out for each other.

• 58:14Speaker 00

  They all want to help the person who's down on their luck or who is, is, is, is, is starting out. Or they want to help the, the, the, you know, they want to create an idea with another bunch of members. And I think that, that, that is, that is special. And it goes back to seeing people in a room having a great time. And, and if our members can flourish in, in their lives, if, if So House can just make their lives just a little bit better, then I think that's a good thing.

• 58:48Steven Bartlett?

  Are you naturally a shy person?

• 58:50Speaker 00

  I think so.

• 58:51Steven Bartlett?

  Because it's funny, because when I, I meet entrepreneurs, there's various different types of entrepreneurs. And once in a while, I meet an entrepreneur and a founder that's created a really great business. But it's quite, I think the word is unassuming, as in they're not very self-promoting. You know, you ask them certain questions about what their brilliance is, for example, and they, they don't necessarily point it themselves, they tend to defer it to others. So it just made me, it's, it's, it's curious because it's kind of unconventional to meet an entrepreneur that's so, that feels so unassuming in a sense. In terms of not having a huge ego, I guess. Because, because the question I was going to ask you, and my head was going, he's probably not gonna, gonna, gonna, he might defer this to something else is,

• 59:34Steven Bartlett?

  you've created such an amazing business and it's such a wonderful brand. And it's, it's admired by people that are customers and that aren't customers, just for, for the business. But I can't seem to get you to tell me why.

• 59:50Steven Bartlett?

  You, out of everyone else that was trying to do this, were successful. Because I got the ambition piece, I've got that persistence and that persistence that comes from that childhood sort of maybe chip on your shoulder, but, but, but I know there's more.

• 1:00:05Speaker 00

  Well, I'm, I can only tell you what I'm, I, I think, and I, what I, I, I do think is, you know, I, I, I love what I do. I'm lucky. I get up every morning. I have a skip in my sticks. You know, I'm skipping around. I'm, I'm, I'm looking forward to getting to work. I, I, I have a fantastic team around and, you know, I care deeply. And if that all adds up to it working, that's the reason why. Cause it was never for me a money play. It was more a, a, a, a thing that I wanted to try

• 1:00:46Speaker 00

  and make hospitality, you know, and that is a, I, I used to say catering, but I've upgraded it to hospitality. And, and to make hospitality a sort of area of where you can change it. You can, you know, when we opened Babington House, you know, it was the first country house hotel where you could get breakfast when you wanted, when there was no rules. It was, it was, it was, you know, your, your bedroom at Babington House is probably nicer than your bedroom at home. So people would come down and go, well, Nick, you know, um, you know, where do you get that TV? Where do you get Sky? That's new. I'm going to put Sky in my houses or I'm gonna,

• 1:01:25Speaker 00

  where do you get those sheets? And, and so I'm not trying to avoid your question here, but I'm just trying to again, answer how I feel and why I do it.

• 1:01:36Steven Bartlett?

  I did get something more from that, which is just your care, how much you care. And your passion and your care seem to have a relationship together. But, and that's, that's so important because a lot of people would be launching it for money. And then therefore they'd care about something else, whereas you really seem to care essentially about the customer experience more than anything else.

• 1:01:54Speaker 00

  Well, and I, and I think I always say to our team, as sort of if, if, if our people are happy and the, the members are happy, then sort of everything else will look after itself because your places will be busy. And if you, if you're smart and your cost control, it, it, it, it, everything else should be fine.

• 1:02:11Steven Bartlett?

  Do you think you're a success?

• 1:02:14Speaker 00

  I, I, I think I said earlier that success, you can judge success in lots of ways.

• 1:02:21Speaker 00

  You know, I'd much rather be judged as a father than as someone who runs a business. And, you know, I suppose you'd have to ask my kids that.

• 1:02:30Steven Bartlett?

  Professionally, do you think you're a success?

• 1:02:32Speaker 00

  I, people tell me a lot and I, I suppose I have to listen to them. In, in, in, in, in their eyes, I'm, I, I, I've, I've done all right. You know, I'm, I'm still there. I'm still, you know, we're, we're still growing. It's, you know, sales go up, you know, it's, it's, it's a good business.

• 1:02:54Steven Bartlett?

  In your eyes?

• 1:02:55Speaker 00

  I think so. I think if I was to be honest, I couldn't sit here and look at you in your eyes and say, no, I don't see what I've done as something which isn't successful because it, because it works. And when things work, I presume that's a success.

• 1:03:09Steven Bartlett?

  And so what's next then for, for, for you? I mean, tremendous business all around the world. And it's becoming so much more than just houses. What is the big next mental challenge, ambition, excitement?

• 1:03:22Speaker 00

  Well, we're recently public.

• 1:03:26Speaker 00

  And, you know, we went public during the pandemic. I'm enjoying that challenge.

• 1:03:31Steven Bartlett?

  Really?

• 1:03:31Speaker 00

  Yes, I'm enjoying it. I'm enjoying dealing with, you know, and I view all the analysts as smart. And, and I think it's making us a better business. And I think, you know, so there's a journey on that, you know, it's, we're only 12 months into it. And people understanding that it's a subscription, recurring income, that, you know, a third of our revenues come from membership and our, our hotels, our bedrooms are always nicely full. And we don't have to use what other hotels have to use to fill their hotels, like booking engines, et cetera.

• 1:04:11Speaker 00

  I, I, so I, I think that is a, a, a, an interesting future on how to be properly successful on the, on, on, as a public company.

• 1:04:23Speaker 00

  There's so many more places we can open houses, you know, we we haven't even touched Africa. We've only dipped our toe into Asia. We we we got, we're going to Latin America later this year um to open in Mexico. So there's a, there's a, there's a lot of exciting new houses opening. Um, and being a public company and just trying to get better every day.

• 1:04:49Steven Bartlett?

  We have a closing tradition on this podcast where the previous guest leaves a question for the next guest. And um, the previous guest has left you a question. They have written, they obviously don't know who they're writing it for, but here we go. If you could go back in time and change one specific moment in your life, what would that be and why?

• 1:05:09Speaker 00

  Ooh, um.

• 1:05:14Speaker 00

  I would definitely have come up, I definitely would still would have done over the top. I, I, I would have done that. Um, one specific thing.

• 1:05:26Speaker 00

  I, I, I think I would have, I would have tried to get my life, my, the balance between life and, and, and family a bit better.

• 1:05:38Steven Bartlett?

  Why?

• 1:05:41Speaker 00

  Because, you know, running at a hundred miles an hour all the time doesn't always sort of, you know, a, a, achieve everything. So I think, I think, and I've, I've talked on the behalf of many entrepreneurs and many CEOs and who just get a bit obsessed and, and about their, their, their world, their business. And I think, you know, you, you're slightly better of it if you're not so, if, if you have a more balanced view.

• 1:06:08Steven Bartlett?

  Yeah, I was actually talking to one of my friends about this last night that you'll know, um, that runs one of the big, big companies in this country. That's a billion pound company. And he was, we were having the same conversation about just trying to remember amongst all of this ambition that the like, the actual most important question is like, are you happy?

• 1:06:24Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:06:25Steven Bartlett?

  And, and that's one that um, I've definitely lost sight of for many, many years of my life in the pursuit of building more and more and more. And then eventually loneliness or some other kind of consequence will show up and remind me that. I've misprioritized.

• 1:06:39Speaker 00

  It's a it's a great subject now, isn't it? And I think people come out the pandemic and they think there is, you know, we want our lives to be slightly more balanced. And I think, I think, you know, that wasn't the case 25 years ago or 15 years ago, when you started your business, it was, it was, you know, it was that mission. And I think balance is good.

• 1:07:03Steven Bartlett?

  Well, thank you, Nick. Thank you so much for your time, the generosity with your time. And thank you for creating a business that I love and that I'm probably at every week at a current rate.

• 1:07:11Speaker 00

  And thank you for being a member.

• 1:07:13Steven Bartlett?

  Yeah.

• 1:07:13Speaker 00

  A loyal member.

• 1:07:14Steven Bartlett?

  Yeah. And, you know, I think most of our team as well, I bought memberships for them as well. And you've created a business which brings a lot of people joy. But the thing that I actually love the most about your business, which is, I think, is a bit of a dying human Maslowian need is community. And everything, whether it's the industry I worked in, social media, or whether it's other things, or even remote working now, seems to be taking community away from us, which seems to be so integral to like being a human. And so how's and the brand is bringing that back. And I think that's why I would personally bet on that, because I think regardless of how the world changed and technology and all of that, we're still going to always love and have a desire for community. So.

• 1:07:55Speaker 00

  Yeah, I agree. I agree. The human connection and people getting together and laughter and ideas and not doing it digitally, doing it in a physical space is is great to see. Thank you.