Private clubs:27Apr 25/6/09 08:44 Page 46
making the country fertile ground for this new
style of networking. “There is a need in the mar-
ket, we could see it. We did a study over a year
or so, and we believed that the country is boom-
ing, it has a great future ahead of it.” Jeddah, he
says, is a cosmopolitan place, where people from
all around the world intersect and share their
cultures, and he wanted to provide them with a
place where they could meet and enjoy a variety
of activities as broad as their collective interests.
It’s a modern paradox – we want to be ever
more connected, while we are ever more zeal-
ous about protecting our privacy and seeking
out neutral third spaces where we can social-
ize. “Previously, the city’s elite had to organize
social events at their private homes in order to
meet,” Zainy says. “Z Club gives them the op-
portunity to have a public place always open,
no need anymore to host a party to meet
friends. Members have a second home.” This
is an idea that’s been tried successfully many
times around the world since the boom of the
1980s – Groucho House, Babington House,
Soho House – generally in locations where pri-
vate members’ clubs and men’s clubs have a
long and storied tradition. As the younger gen-
erations have taken over, remaking the old-
boy’s club into something more artistic, social
and exciting, they’ve become an indispensable
part of the social scene for people of a certain
class. Z Club, says Zainy, is “a mix of different
concepts seen during my travels around the
world but with the Saudi touch. It’s a luxury
place with soul. The design was a long discus-
sion between different architects to material-
ize the best I have seen around the world with
my own touch.” Though no longer involved in
the day-to-day operations, he was heavily in-
volved in the planning and design stages, and
continues to, of course, use the club himself
and remains invested in the concept.
Top left: Mr. Tarek Gazzaz, GM of Z Club,
Right, Sheikh Talal Zainy, CEO of Z Club.
Middle: Z Club, Jeddah.
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