Belonging to a private members’ club has long been a unique representation of wealth and power in Asia—particularly during the 1980s and 1990s, the elite couldn’t get enough of their local country club’s slatted plastic deckchairs and poolside club sandwiches (that were mediocre, at best).
Now, there’s a new breed of private members’ club that caters to the next generation’s appetite for culture and community. More substance than status symbol, these spaces serve as conduits for creativity through programmes that revolve around the arts, current affairs and networking, alongside exclusive, intimate experiences.
One such establishment is Mandala Club, owned by Singapore-based real estate and events company Mandala Group. “Everything we do is blanketed in the human need for meaningful connection, whereby we can create depth of community,” says Ben Jones, the co-founder and CEO of Mandala Group. “If you’ve got 2,000 members and they don’t know one another, it’s not a community—it’s just a group of people. Our job is to facilitate genuine connection.”
In 2021, Mandala Group officially acquired and renovated the 22,000 square feet, four-storey heritage shophouse at Bukit Pasoh that was formerly Straits Clan, a private members’ club that paid tribute to Singapore’s clan associations. After taking over the space from home-grown hospitality company The Lo & Behold Group, it officially rebranded the property as Mandala Club.
There were some concerns from existing members and the community at large during the transition: could a group that’s essentially run by foreigners really embrace and represent Singapore’s creative set, or was it destined to become another watering hole for expats?
