Annabels

Annabel's is the most visually extravagant members' club in London, and depending on your taste that is either the whole point or the whole problem. The 2018 move to 46 Berkeley Square turned the discreet basement institution of the Birley era into a four-storey Martin Brudnizki fever dream — the famous floral facades, the jungle-muraled Garden restaurant, the gold-swan bathroom taps that launched a million Instagram posts. As pure spectacle and people-watching, nothing else in Mayfair competes, the service is polished, and the club runs a genuinely strong events calendar. The criticisms are the ones longtime members make loudly. The theatrical redesign traded intimacy for glamour, and the crowd has shifted toward money and visibility rather than the old-world discretion that defined the original; those seeking a quiet clubbable atmosphere will be happier elsewhere. Costs are punishing — joining fees plus annual dues run well into four figures before you have bought a drink, and waiting lists are long unless you are proposed by the right people. Food across the restaurants is good but rarely brilliant for the prices. Join Annabel's for the spectacle, the parties, and the address. Join 5 Hertford Street for the conversation.