Philanthropic director of the Conservation charity Space for Giants and transatlantic dynamo Lexi Bowes-Lyon says, ‘5 Hertford Street has been such a success in London, it will no doubt continue to enjoy its chic foray in New York.’
5 Hertford Street member, Florence Tollemache (née Princess Florence von Preussen) hopes that Birley will bring the same familiar atmosphere she loves about 5 Hertford Street to New York. ‘You can pretty much walk in by yourself, and you always run into people you know. There will be a little bit of London in New York.’
Longtime London transplant and man about town, Euan Rellie says, ‘5 Hertford Street has exactly the right mixture of glamour and rakishness a club should have. I see members of the establishment and the connected cool kids all letting their hair down a bit. It’s very insider indeed. He [Birley] clearly has some family drama that drives him to make clubs at least as good as his dad did, but wherever that focus comes from, it translates into the most beautiful experience. Prices are high, but it feels like the room where it happens.’
The son of Sir Mark Birley and grandson of a society portrait painter, Sir Oswald Birley, Birley’s aunt was the legendary designer Maxine de La Falaise. His father, Sir Mark Birley, founded the fabled Annabel’s nightclub, naming it after his then-wife, Lady Annabel Goldsmith.
Insider enthusiasm notwithstanding, Birley will face some local competition in New York’s private club space. Maggio Cipriani, a scion of the Cipriani restaurant family, just opened the Cipriani Club in September 2021, and Juan de La Cruz’s long-awaited Casa Cruz is also slated to open later this month.
