Private clubs cost thousands to get in — and they’re booming | CNN Business

If the walls of The Sloane Club could talk, they probably wouldn’t stop. The private members’ club, founded in 1922 by one of Queen Victoria’s daughters, has witnessed a great deal of history in London’s ritzy Chelsea district. Behind its doors, a warren of rooms: A hallway leads to a restaurant to a library to a bar, where six tasseled stools stand to attention. In the adjoining dining room, an oil painting of an opulently dressed blonde woman presides over the hushed comings and goings. The club opened in the wake of World War I to accommodate women who had served in the military. It began admitting men some five decades later. These days, after a costly refurbishment, the club is trying to attract a younger crowd — but only if they can pass the interview. “We do give a preferential rate for our under-35s community,” Neena Jivraj Stevenson, the club’s managing director, told CNN. “That’s £1,700 ($2,264) a year, with a lower joining fee” of £450 ($602). Over 35? Sorry, that’s at least £2,300 ($3,065) a year plus a £950 ($1,271) joining fee. The Sloane Club is trying to ride the tidal wave of money and interest flowing toward members-only clubs — busin