The posh London suburb of Mayfair, next to Hyde Park, is known for its elegant Georgian townhouses. But also because it is home to some of the most exclusive hotels, restaurants and shops in the city, such as the bespoke tailors on Savile Row and the designer boutiques on Bond Street. It was there that in 2014 it was created the first Toy Room nightcluba powerful nightlife brand (in which Grupo Pachá acquired a majority stake in 2021) that today is based in cities such as Dubai, Mykonos, Istanbul, Rome, Athens, Delhi, Sao Paulo, Ibiza and, for less than one year, in Madrid.
The new location is just over 150 meters from the Canalejas Gallery, the new icon of luxury and gastronomy in the capital, and practically opposite what since 2020 is its most exclusive hotel, the Four Seasons. A location that is not a coincidence, as explained by the founding partner of Toy Room, jordan rock. “When we started the project, I asked people what they thought of that area and everyone told me no, it’s not an area where there are clubs. I answered, look, the Four Seasons is there and they are not stupid, if they think that this area is good it means that they have studied it. So for me it was perfect. When you talk to people and they ask you where it is, saying that in front of the Four Seasons is perfect, ”she says.
Italian businessman Jordan Rocca (right), together with Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, the ToyRoom mascot and public relations Rubén Lantes.
Each Toy Room is different to adapt to the local public, but they share part of the Italian spirit of Rocca, a Genoese resident between Ibiza and London. In Madrid it opens from Thursday to Sunday with performances by international artists and music based, above all, on hip-hop and reggaeton themes. Distributed on two floors, includes VIP rooms in the style of hotel suites -with PlayStation and Netflix, among other services-, a DJ booth even in the bathrooms and works of art. “I am very demanding with customer service, with how my team speaks to them. I think that taking good care of the client, who in the end is the one who spends money in your club, is the best thing you can do. And you have to give it a complete service”, acknowledges Rocca, who also participates in projects in the restaurant sector, such as the vegan hamburger chain Neat Burger, where he has Leonardo DiCaprio and Lewis Hamilton as partners.
Even so, Rocca is not the only one who has found a privileged place for his place. the car designer Inigo Onievawho rose to fame in Spain for his relationship with Tamara Falcó, opened the Lula Club in November last year with two partners, the only nightclub in Madrid with an address on the iconic Gran Vía street. “We had been looking for a place in that area for a long time, which is once again the center of leisure in the capital. Gran Vía is the third busiest street in Europe and is called the European Broadway because of the number of theaters and entertainment there. In addition, all the new openings of a high-profile hotel are there, such as the Four Seasons, Edition, Nobu… and they support a quality leisure offer”, Onieva points out.
Interior of Lula Club, founded by Iñigo Onieva and located on Madrid’s Gran Vía.
The audience for this offer is made up of “quite diverse” profiles, according to the founder of Lula, who comments that in his recently completed first year of life have frequented the club from members of European royalty or groups of actors, to a type of client more underground, attracted by the electronic music that characterizes the place. “In Paris, London or New York, the most prestigious, exclusive and benchmark clubs in the capital are always for electronic music. In Madrid and in Spain in general, on the other hand, this style is more related to what underground. Here we wanted to bring that spirit to a premium experience: offering electronic music in a top-notch club, with a premium and more exclusive atmosphere”, he confesses.
The interior of the premises, conceived by AEME Arquitectos, highlights the maroon velvet, the mirrors, the gold and the neon lights. It has capacity for 1,2000 people and offers a musical program that includes both great international DJs and emerging local electronic music artists. “Madrid has a spectacular leisure offer and there are always going to be competitors all the time. But in Lula we have created a soul and that is difficult to replicate, especially in the nightclub industry, which tends to work according to fashion. We have created a club, not a discotheque, and that means that regardless of the venues that open, Lula will continue to be a benchmark. In Madrid there are a lot of people and more and more are coming, so there is space for everything”, says Onieva.
Inside the Lula Club.
Part of this space has been occupied for 25 years by Fortuny, the well-known party venue of the jet set Madrid. The legendary French mansion from the 19th century, located next to Paseo de la Castellana, reopened its doors last April, after a comprehensive renovation, with the aim of adapting to the new leisure demands of the capital. “A strong hotel industry has landed in the city and even before the pandemic we considered renewing a classic so that, more than being fashionable, it would not go out of style. We also address the trends in Europe for having good signature cocktails and gastronomy options. Now it is a kind of Soho House without staying the night”, details the content director of Fortuny, Fernando Candela.
Fortuny has reopened with a new cocktail space.
So the new Fortuny Home Club, which Candela describes as “an oasis in the middle of the Madrid maelstrom”, proposes a new concept based on four different spaces: The Benedetto restaurant, specialized in gourmet pizzas paired with Champagne or washed down by a large Italian wine cellar; La Cúpula terrace, an intimate orchard where international gastronomy of Oriental and Mediterranean cuisine come together; Henriette’s signature cocktail bar, and the Morris Club nightclub. “When you enter, you have the autonomy to be able to be on the different floors of the same space, but in totally different environments. You can make an event, use only the gastronomic part and have a few cocktails or enjoy the club pure and simple. It is being in a 19th century palace but brought to the 21st century and that is very difficult to find right now ”, she maintains.
The Morris Club of the new Fortuny Home Club.
The new multidisciplinary space is licensed until six in the morning, but Candela assures that, after the pandemic, many people have stopped looking for that in leisure. “People got used to the fact that their leisure had fewer night hours and they conquered the day and the afternoon. That is why our offer, which before was very much aimed at the night, now covers everything. We are open from 1:30 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. uninterruptedly from Monday to Sunday”, he confirms.