The Sloane Club

I have a friend who roosts at The Sloane Club when she is in London. It is conveniently located in Lower Sloane Street just a biscuit’s throw from Sloane Square and Peter Jones. Quick digression; Margaret Thatcher set great store by living near Peter Jones and for many years had a house in Flood Street.

I have enjoyed my visits as a guest to the SC bar and usually have then used the conveniently sited pedestrian crossing to get to Caraffini across the road. I have always wondered about the ownership of the club. Most clubs are owned by their members and the lucky ones own the freehold of their clubhouse. I felt that the SC is run along more commercial lines and this proves to be correct.

Before we continue let me tell you about Caledonia Investment Trust, the family fund for the Cayzer shipping family since 1878. It is worth £1.7 billion and the family retains a 48.5% stake. This has its good points in that they have a strong long-term interest in the performance of the fund but, on the other side of the balance sheet, it is impregnable to a predator making a hostile bid. This means that it trades at a huge discount to its Net Asset Value (over 20%) and this may not change. Anyway the share price yesterday took an upwards hike and I took a look at what was going on. Last year they bought a stake in fund manager Seven IM and have not revised the valuation (£76.7 million). It is their fourth largest holding.

Now we can return to the Sloane Club. It describes itself as a Private Members Club and reveals a little of its history on its website.

Number 52 Lower Sloane Street started life as part of a handsome late Victorian development on and old 18^th Century site in Chelsea known as Hans Town. The buildings, with their red-brick gables and fine detailing, were in the style dubbed ‘Pont Street Dutch’ and were enviably near the many fashionable milliners, mercers and glovemakers lining Sloane Square.

The Service Women’s Club was founded for serving and former lady officers of the Armed Forces in World War II, before becoming The Helena Club for ladies, established in the early 1960s by a lady-in-waiting to Princess Marie Louise. Gentlemen were admitted during the following decade and by 1976 it became The Sloane Club as we know it.

It is a club that may only be used by members but it is not owned by them. It is Caledonia’s sixth biggest investment valued at £58.5 million. That would suggest that Caledonia owns the freehold or at least a long lease on this substantial property – the club has over 130 bedrooms. I wonder if there are other owners and what Caledonia’s long-term plans are for the club and the property?