The Ned: Nick Jones 'embraces the city' with new £200 million hotel venture in the Square Mile

King of ‘cool creatives’ opens Square Mile hotel after U-turn 
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Nick Jones used to loathe “packs of people in suits” and once banned 1,000 members for being “too school for cool”. But the Soho House founder has changed his mind with a new venture — in the heart of the Square Mile.

Mr Jones says he has fully “embraced the City” for his most ambitious project to date, spending an estimated £200 million on turning the vast former Midland Bank headquarters into a hotel, restaurant complex and private members’ club called The Ned.

Booking lines opened this week for the 252-room hotel in Poultry, which costs from £250 a night, before the formal opening in April.

Mr Jones, who is married to broadcaster Kirsty Young, has previously confessed “I don’t like packs of people in suits” and told the Standard he had always steered away from the City because its workers were the antithesis of the “cool creative people” trademark of his venues.

But he said: “Now I’m embracing the City. The Square Mile wasn’t on my radar as a place to be, but I fell in love with the building as soon as I saw it.

“The City has more than its fair share of culture and it’s developing at a rapid pace. The Ned is part of that change and we’re proud to be here.

“The Ned is for everyone — it’s got a Cowshed spa, eight restaurants, plenty of bars and entertainment every night. It’s for anyone who likes eating, drinking and having a good time.” About 1,500 founder members are being recruited for Ned’s Club, which will be separate from the Soho House brand.

The building in Poultry

It is a dramatic change of heart for Mr Jones, whose favourite new member is said to be “a hungry, twentysomething screenwriter who has yet to sell his first script”. In 2010 he purged about 1,000 bankers, lawyers and other “too corporate” members from Soho House in New York when he became alarmed the club was being taken over by “suits”.

A year later public relations boss Peter Bingle was famously told he was no longer welcome at Soho House venues, which ban “overtly corporate attire”, because he wore a suit and tie.

The Grade I-listed building was constructed between 1921 and 1939 to a design by Sir Edwin “Ned” Lutyens.

It has been unused for almost a decade after being vacated by HSBC, which bought The Midland Bank in 1992. The restoration work has taken more than four years. Features will include a club lounge bar in the preserved deposit box vault, which stood in for Fort Knox in the James Bond movie Goldfinger, starring Sean Connery. There will also be two pools, one in the former bullion vault and one on the roof, a boxing ring and a yoga and pilates studio.

The Ned’s managing director Gareth Banner said the City is “no longer a place that only exists during the day from Monday to Friday”, adding: “We want weekend brunch to be a big feature here”.

Visit thened.com for more information.

Follow Jonathan on @JonPrynn

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