Why Hong Kong needs another private members’ club: ‘to drink better, for less,’ Club Batard’s founders say
- Club Batard will be the latest playground for moneyed gastronomes in Hong Kong when it launches this summer with three restaurants and a whisky bar
- Spanning 18,000 sq ft over three levels in the Pedder Building in Central, the club will cap membership at 1,200 people, who will pay up to US$19,200 to join
Pedder Building in Central, Hong Kong celebrates its centenary in 2024.
Significant parts of the iconic colonial-style building have been sitting empty since the high-profile departure of fashion retailer Abercrombie & Fitch in 2017, two years before its lease expired. Since 2011, the American brand had been paying HK$7 million in rent a month, double that of previous tenants Shanghai Tang.
That will change this summer when hospitality industry veterans transform a large part of Pedder Building into Hong Kong’s latest private members’ venue, Club Batard.
The team behind the opening includes Michael Wu, the founder of wine merchant The Fine Wine Experience, and his long-time collaborator Randy See, the managing partner of Batard restaurant and hospitality group Piccolo Concepts.
Spanning 18,000 sq ft over three levels of Pedder Building, Club Batard will be anchored by a massive interconnecting wine cellar that flows through each level, storing more than 5,000 wines.