Private club · Members' clubs
The Arts Club
The club describes its membership as "a community of discerning thinkers and thought leaders, with a shared appreciation for the arts and culture"
A profile page holds what the organization publishes and what named sources report: who it admits, what it costs, how it is structured, where it operates, and how it has changed. Every figure carries the date it was checked. A dash means the organization does not publish that fact.
Founding: Founded in 1863; Wikipedia names Charles Dickens, Anthony Trollope and Lord Leighton among the founders. The club's own site does not state a founding year on its public membership pages.
The Arts Club is a private members' club at 40 Dover Street in Mayfair, London, founded in 1863 and originally sited at 17 Hanover Square. Its nineteenth-century membership included Millais, Whistler, Kipling, Monet, Rodin and Degas. The present clubhouse is an eighteenth-century townhouse that was bombed in the Blitz and rebuilt. The club runs a rotating exhibition programme and a permanent collection, live music, several restaurants and bars (a Mediterranean brasserie, the Japanese restaurant Kyubi, the Ofelia members' lounge, the late bar Leo's and the Oscuro cigar lounge), guest bedrooms, and a Lanserhof wellness facility on site. Membership is sold in four published categories: full membership for applicants aged 33 and over, a spouse or partner rate, a young membership for applicants under 33, and an add-on subscription giving London members full access to The Arts Club Dubai, which opened in December 2020. The club also runs a Mini Members programme for members' children and maintains reciprocal arrangements with clubs overseas.
How it works
Members use a single Mayfair clubhouse that operates from morning until the early hours, with dining rooms, bars, a gallery, event spaces and hotel rooms. Prospective members submit an enquiry through the club's website; the club asks international applicants to apply to the outpost nearest their primary residence. Subscriptions run annually and a one-off "member assessment fee" is charged on joining for full and young members.
Typical member
Historically artists, writers and collectors; the current roll is reported to include figures from art, entertainment and business. The club publishes no occupational or wealth criteria.
Membership requirements
Requirements in detail, with history →Requirements are the tests the organization itself publishes: an age ceiling, a company-revenue floor, a net-worth minimum, a role. Where a figure straddles a range, the organization's own assessment decides. Local chapters can apply stricter tests than the published standard.
| Criterion | Published requirement | Provenance |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum age | Full membership is "open to applicants 33 years of age or older" | Verified September 2026High confidenceSource ↗ |
| Maximum age at joining | Young Member category is "open to applicants under 33 years of age" | Verified September 2026High confidenceSource ↗ |
| Geographic restriction | International applicants must apply to the club nearest their primary residential address | Verified September 2026High confidenceSource ↗ |
| Sponsorship | Not publicly disclosed | Verified September 2026Low confidenceSource ↗ |
Published criteria as verified on the dates shown. Final eligibility and admission decisions belong entirely to The Arts Club. See how you compare against these criteria →
Initiation fees are paid once on joining; dues recur. Chapter dues, retreats, travel and events are usually additional and are listed separately when the organization discloses them. Figures are as published or reported on the date shown, not quotations.
| Cost | First year | Three years | Provenance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Annual duesa year | £3,200 | £9,600 | Verified September 2026High confidenceSource ↗ | |
| Annual duesa year | £1,500 | alternative tier, not added | Verified September 2026High confidenceSource ↗ | |
| Annual duesa year | £1,400 | alternative tier, not added | Verified September 2026High confidenceSource ↗ | |
| Annual duesa year | £1,400 | alternative tier, not added | Verified September 2026High confidenceSource ↗ | |
| Initiation feeonce | £1,600 | £1,600 | Verified September 2026High confidenceSource ↗ | |
| Initiation feeonce | £500 | alternative tier, not added | Verified September 2026High confidenceSource ↗ | |
| Estimated total, disclosed figures only | £4,800 | £11,200 | Not counted: Annual dues (3 alternative tiers, not added), Initiation fee (alternative tier, not added). | |
Structure and programming
Where it operates
2 chapters on file · 2 citiesChapters verified from published sources.
Each dot is a city with at least one chapter on file. City positions © OpenStreetMap contributors.
2 chapters
| Chapter or location | City | Country | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Arts Club Dubai clubhouse Opened December 2020 in the ICD Brookfield Place building; London members may add access for an additional annual subscription | Dubai | United Arab Emirates | ||
| The Arts Club London clubhouse 40 Dover Street, Mayfair, London W1S 4NP | London | United Kingdom | ||
| No chapter on file matches that. This list is not complete, so one may still exist. | ||||
Independent context
The Arts Club is unusual among Mayfair clubs in publishing its full rate card, which makes cost comparison straightforward: £3,200 a year plus a £1,600 assessment fee for a full member, against £1,500 plus £500 for members under 33. What it does not publish is anything about selection: no proposer or seconder rule, no committee description, no waiting-list statement, no member count. The arts framing is genuine (a collection, exhibitions, a president drawn from the art world) but the club is not a working or business club: there is no co-working offer and no stated professional criterion. The Dubai outpost is sold as an add-on rather than a reciprocal, which suits members who travel to the UAE and is of little value to anyone else.
Editorial analysis by Peer Group Guide editors. It is separated from the record above and follows the editorial policy.
Similar organizations
Alternatives, grouped by need →History and changes
Site-wide change log →- milestoneThe Arts Club founded, initially at 17 Hanover Square, Mayfair; Charles Dickens, Anthony Trollope and Lord Leighton are named among the founders ↗
- milestoneThe Arts Club Dubai opened in the ICD Brookfield Place building ↗
- milestoneClub moved from 17 Hanover Square to its current 18th-century townhouse at 40 Dover Street; Wikipedia states the move came after thirty years at Hanover Square but gives no exact… ↗
Milestones as published by the organization or reported by a named source. “Record” entries are changes to this site’s own record of the organization, kept in the public change log rather than overwritten.
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Sources
- The Arts Club — Private Members Club, Mayfair, The Arts Club. Accessed 6 September 2026.tier 1
- Membership — The Arts Club, The Arts Club. Accessed 6 September 2026.tier 2
- Arts Club, Wikipedia. Accessed 6 September 2026.tier 8
Source tiers follow the published hierarchy: 1 official site · 2 official membership materials · 3 application documents · 4 annual reports · 5 government filings · 6 reliable business publications · 7 credible interviews · 8 other reputable secondary sources. Sources and data policy.
Is something wrong or out of date?
Represent The Arts Club? Verified representatives can submit corrections to fees, criteria, chapters and contact details, and add approved material. Submissions are reviewed by an editor and shown as organization-supplied; they never overwrite independent research.