Private Membership Clubs - business or pleasure?

We’re mentioned Hub Culture previously but the latest edition of Springwise goes into more detail on the broader concept -

“Hub Culture is a private social network aimed at helping members connect, exchange knowledge, forge deals and create value. With primary bases in several urban hubs—including London, New York, San Francisco, Bermuda, Singapore and Hong Kong—Hub Culture has more than 60 representatives in major cities around the world dedicated to assisting other members with advice and knowledge in their home areas. Membership is free but requires invitation; benefits include personal online profiles, the ability to form groups with file sharing and wikis, knowledge brokerage to help drive deals, and invitations to private events.

What makes Hub Culture especially interesting is where it enters the physical world. Hub Culture Pavilions are currently being developed around the globe to provide a shared physical space, support services and online collaboration tools that help members connect and work together.”

You’ll find the full article here. Reading about this today prompted me to ask if Private Membership Clubs are a purely British phenomenon. I’ve regularly heard Paul Walsh talking about his Adam Street visits and recently came across One Alfred Place. The responses I got on Twitter indicated that there are in fact a few such clubs in Dublin, like The Odessa Club, The Residence, The Sycamore Club and The St. Stephens Green Club.

But it seems to me that none of those are really comparable to Adam Street and One Alfred Place as the latter are more like high-end coworking spaces or business clubs whereas the Dublin venues seem focused on being social meeting places. Although Maryrose Lyons insists that The Residence at least mixes business with pleasure.

In any case, One Afred Place is the model I’d like to see replicated in Ireland, even if there’s only room for one or two in the market (in central Dublin).