The New York City elite are growing irritated by a proliferation of private members’ clubs from London’s Mayfair opening branches on their doorsteps.
Over the last year, London clubs have started popping up like unexpected guests in the US city. The entrepreneur Robin Birley, who owns 5 Hertford Street – where Prince Harry and Meghan Markle reportedly had their first date – and Oswald’s in Mayfair, has opened Maxime’s on New York’s Upper East Side. The Grosvenor Square newcomer The Twenty Two has now opened its NYC outpost and others are swiftly following, including the Mayfair stalwart Annabel’s, which plans to open a site in the downtown meatpacking district.
Now residents on the Upper East Side have complained about another British club opening in their area, objecting to Maison Estelle’s request for a liquor licence. The exclusive London club has been visited by celebrities including Kim Kardashian, Angelina Jolie and Kate Moss. The former US vice-president Kamala Harris has also stayed on the club’s Cotswolds estate.
The Mayfair stalwart Annabel’s plans to open a site in New York’s downtown meatpacking district. Photograph: William Barton/Alamy
The owners of Estelle want to open a five-storey venue with a roof terrace in a mansion between Madison and Fifth avenues. This has faced fierce opposition from the local community board, who have urged the authorities to decline the licence. They voted against the liquor licence by 29 to 13, with one abstention.
Jibril Younes, a representative of 26 East 81st Street, a building where apartments sell for a median of $1.7m (£1.3m), said: “The proposed rooftop use at 24 East 81st would significantly impact the privacy and quality of life of our tenants.
“Instead of one family, our tenants would face 20 to 30 patrons gathering just 15 feet from their bedroom windows late into the evening.”
Alana Haim attends the Louis Vuitton cruise 2027 after-party at Maxime’s in New York City. Photograph: TheStewartofNY/Getty
Locals described the Upper East Side, situated next to Central Park, as a residential area that does not need any more clubs. They were also concerned that people living in “really nice townhouses” would be disturbed by noise.
“I like to party more than anybody,” Bill Bryan, a resident at 18 and 20 East 81st Street, said at the community board meeting, according to the local newsletter Patch. “This is not where we need it right now.”
Frederick Lapham, the president of the co-op board at 18 and 20 East 81st Street, said: “The back yard is really full of nice townhouses between Madison and Fifth Avenue on 80th and 81st Street, and sound carries like crazy back there, so we really are hopeful that you’ll really limit the activity to the building and not to the terrace.”
A British restaurateur who has a venue on the Upper East Side, who was granted anonymity for fear of retribution from the well-heeled townhouse dwellers, said the complaints were “silly”. “The Upper East Side was moribund before we came. They are quite frankly lucky to have Estelle’s,” they continued. “It’s so quiet there, it’s not like the West Village where you have people hanging around until the early hours of the morning. Any good restaurant or club opening on the Upper East Side should be celebrated by all residents.”
Estelle’s management has tried to calm the nerves of the community board. The company operates three clubs in the UK: Maison Estelle in Mayfair, Celeste in Notting Hill and Estelle Manor in Oxfordshire. It is also looking at opening a “British country house” in upstate New York.
“We’re clubs with old-school values that really promise individualised service and the utmost discretion, but with a bit of a new-school spirit where our members have plenty to say but nothing to prove,” Sean Coogan, a director of the company, told the board.
Launches of clubs owned by Britons are coming so thick and fast in the Big Apple that the London restaurant PR supremo Gemma Bell set up a satellite office there last month in order to represent British clients.
“British culture is particularly in vogue at the moment in NYC and I think it’s wider than hospitality; it’s the love for Arsenal (the city’s mayor, Zohran Mamdani, being a fan), it’s artists such as Olivia Dean and Raye taking the world by storm, it’s British brands such as Barbour having a surge in popularity – I could go on,” Bell said.
“Being a hospitality operator in the UK is particularly tough at the moment; with costs continuing to increase, operators are finding it increasingly difficult to run viable businesses, so they’re now starting to look elsewhere.”
The British steakhouse Hawksmoor opened in the city in 2021 to great success, and this year the high-end Britsh-Indian restaurant the Ambassadors Clubhouse launched its New York venue. Dishoom is also scoping out a site.
One of the most hyped openings of the year in the city is the British-themed restaurant Dean’s, which serves traditional dishes including quail scotch eggs and stargazy pie.
Birley is cautiously optimistic that Maxime’s will be a long-lasting success. “Ask me in 18 months,” he said. “It takes three years for a club to prove itself.” He thinks that British operators may be opening new venues in New York because “London is rather depressing at the moment”.
He added: “Tax is part of it, and law and order in Mayfair is terrible. The Upper East Side is super safe compared to London. I was born and raised in London. It will come back, but right now I am sorry to say it is depressing.”
