Business as Unusual at Home Grown Club

London’s leading business club has the formula right for savvy entrepreneurs looking to scale up.

Homegrownclub.co.uk

By Isaac Twidale, with contributions from William Knight.

What happens when you take the Britishness of a Private Members' Club, combine it with 21st-century startup culture and place it in the heart of London’s West End?

You get the 1300+ member-strong, Home Grown Club - London’s leading business club.

It’s Friday October 27th. Flicking through a coffee table book celebrating the ‘coolest brands on the planet’, I stumble on Home Grown Club, listed somewhere near the top. Interesting. This is promising, as I am currently sat in the cosy lobby of said institution.?

I’d been invited to review Home Grown Club, “a members club for entrepreneurs seeking serious funding”. An entrepreneur myself, I was too intrigued to refuse.

Hiding in plain sight, deep in residential West London, the club sits discreetly behind the walls of a 6-story, Grade II listed Georgian townhouse. Home to high-growth entrepreneurs, international investors and industry leaders.

As I wait for my host, Jessica Barwell, Head of Marketing, I see members walking through the heavy front doors greeted like old friends by Marcus, Head of Front of House.?

I switch from books to club pamphlets to get an insight into how Home Grown sees itself.

A more traditional response to the boom of Silicon Valley style ‘Accelerators’, Home Grown Club facilitates the business growth of its carefully curated membership through networking and education in an aspirational environment.

As they put it, a place to do "business as unusual".

Jessica arrives and our whistlestop tour begins.?

Sister venue to the infamous Marleybone party palace, Home House, Home Grown Club was opened in 2019 when the owners saw an opportunity to elevate the entrepreneurial culture taking seed at Home House. Their ambition is for the next unicorn to be born inside Home Grown’s Georgian walls.

Jessica tells me about the club’s members. “We’re generally looking for people already doing ￡1m+ and up to about ￡100m in sales. Your average entrepreneur doing those numbers is generally over the age of 30”? she says as we wander down the main corridor.?

"And, it’s not just business faces at Home Grown. I've bumped into both Stephen Fry and boxer, Derek Chisora, in our 'Unicorn Bar' casually having a drink. As the saying goes, you never know who you are going to meet" Jessica continues.

Home Grown is known for its impressive interiors. Around every corner is bold and exciting decor, quintessentially and eccentrically British.?Business as unusual, it certainly is.

Natural daylight floods through floor-to-ceiling windows illuminating floral-patterned upholstery, and walls are adorned with famous portraits, Pollock-esque creations, and silk-painted William Morris wallpaper.

Bright colours feature throughout, including in the ground floor coworking spaces. Two medium-sized co-working rooms, comfortably accommodating 20+ people, calmly hum with activity. Interestingly, one of the rooms is converted monthly into reserved dining space for Home Grown’s Supper for Six series which invites members to take part in a business blind dinner date. They arrive and never know who they’re going to meet and form new connections over dinner.

Next, we arrive at the generously sized restaurant, with its brasserie-style British-Fusion dishes, it’s contemporary and vibrant - everything you’d expect from a top West End eatery.

Jessica points out the first table. It’s long enough for roughly 12 people. “That’s Cedric’s table. It’s open-seat dining for members to chance meet other members over breakfast,” she explains. This opportunistic dining experience was my first real introduction to what’s really the beating heart of this club.

As I’m led through this entrepreneurial playground, I’m shocked at just how much lies behind that front door: An enormous and beautiful bar, coworking spaces, 4 colourful business lounges, 6 playfully decorated meeting rooms which double up as private dining rooms and a grand boardroom suitable for 20+ people.?

Finally, there’s a large event space, The Montagu Room, capable of accommodating up to 100 people. And if that’s not big enough, hire the entire lower ground floor for 180 guests. The Montagu is the spot for Home Grown’s Rockstar Series that has a large turnout. Past Rockstars include ex-Dragon’s Den investor, Piers Linney, co-founder of Mr & Mrs Smith, Tamara Lohan MBE, co-founder of Green & Black’s, JoFairley and more. We heard through the grapevine that Stuart Trevor, founder of All Saints will be the next Rockstar guest in 2024.

“It’s simple really, we’re providing a space for you to address skills gaps in your business, achieve personal growth and make the right connections. It’s an international community of investors, growth funds and high-growth companies. Mentorships and investor relations form naturally amongst the members as they organically meet each other across the various events,” says Jessica.

If you’re a rising star entrepreneur looking to broaden your horizons, Home Grown’s programme of 30 monthly events offers this and more. From talks by rockstars and business titans such as LEON founder Henry Dimbleby and Jack Wills founder, Robert Shaw, to pitch days, business seminars, and well-being workshops.

Most impressive were the 35 hotel rooms on offer - intimate crash pads completing the Home Grown vision of an all-in-one solution for the global entrepreneur. Varying in size and amenities, they start at a very reasonable ￡170 per night.

And to service their global network of investors and leaders on the move, Home Grown Club has reciprocal clubs all over the world, from Miami and Milan to Singapore.

Having seen the whole building Jessica leaves me to collect my thoughts over a delicious, locally sourced lunch.

What is the heart and soul of this thriving community?

Home Grown Club’s USP is the opportunity to form natural business relationships organically, in comfort and privacy, with genuine top-tier business pedigree from all over the world.

It capitalises on the international appeal of London’s Private Members Clubs and partners with clubs all over the globe so its members can pitch in quiet luxury wherever in the world they are.

Very evidently a place to get work done, it feels nonetheless exciting and playful, eccentric and relaxed. It’s West End Clubland’s very British answer to Silicon Valley’s business incubator.

I overheard two sharply dressed gentlemen deep in conversation over wine and crab cakes. One said to the other: “I spend more time here than I do at the office.”?

And why on earth wouldn’t you?

Interested in membership? Check out their options and rates here and if you wish to chat further about membership and benefits, book a call here.