Each menu is bound like a book and the cocktails are named after legendary works such as Rudyard Kipling’s “The Jungle Book”. At The Library every detail has been purposefully attended to – “to make sure that the club fulfills what we set out to do, so that the journey is evident when you come in as a guest – so that the experience is evident, because sometimes if it is not said out loud you do not necessarily see it.”
One such element that enhances the experience is the intentional way in which The Library is lit throughout each space – almost like a metaphor of ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ or ‘transformation’– which is what Ronald would like The Library to evoke in its members as they come in through its large wooden doors. And you do feel it. Being set in the heart of London’s theatreland only further added to the conception of The Library – a location that was chanced upon while pursuing properties in the Mayfair vicinity.
The events brought to Library are just as imperative – being a space for conversation and transformation with theatre, literature, design art and music at its core “anything that enhances that is obviously a good thing”. Asked if Ronald has people or events he would like The Library to work more closely with, he answered “One thing I would really want to do is to reach out to a lot of book publishers, and maybe other libraries as well, and partner up with them, and actually turn this into a real library. Right now we have lots of books and shelves – what I would like to do is to curate our shelves, work out the books, label them, put labels on all the shelves and essentially organize our selection. I also think that it would make day-time trade much, much busier because you’d have a lot more people who are looking for something that they really cannot get anywhere else, and then if you have art students or design students who want to see something or find something – if it is housed here, then again, that is a really good way to attract the right audience”.
The Library is certainly living up to its name but more than that it behaves as a sanctuary for the arts, a place for conversation-starters, entrepreneurs, students and those who want to come to a place to learn new vocations – fancy learning hat making with a renowned couturier? Come to The Library.
