Loulou Groupe to Launch Members’ Club 16 Charles Street in London Next Year

NEW CLUB: French hospitality company Loulou Groupe, the operator of Loulou Paris, Le Flandrin and Le Grand Café, is opening its first U.K. branch next fall in the form of a private members’ club nestled within a Mayfair town house, called 16 Charles Street.

The 25,000-square-foot, Grade II listed property was once the home of society hostess Margaret Greville, and is now being reimagined to become a social and dining club for Loulou Groupe’s Les Amis members.

The club — informed by the spirited travels of Loulou de la Falaise, whose colorful life inspired the name of the group, and Greville — will have five floors of salons, bar spaces and restaurants spearheaded by chef Benoît Dargère. On the ground floor, there will be an open-to-the-public French brasserie, offering a first glimpse into the world above.

Claire Malafosse, cofounder and artistic director of the Loulou Groupe, said London has a special energy: the creativity, the global reach, the warmth and many of the group’s guests were already calling it their second home.

“When we walked into 16 Charles Street, everything aligned at once. We hadn’t planned to expand everywhere; that’s not who we are. But sometimes life presents the perfect building, the perfect moment, and you simply say, ‘Voilà, this is it.’ A beautiful stroke of luck, and the most natural next home for us, our pied-à-terre in London,” Malafosse added.