Practical commentary for founders, operators and private members' clubs. Written to be useful rather than promotional, and kept short enough to read before a meeting.
Licensing · · 8 min read
Two clubs on the same street can hold entirely different licences. The distinction turns on how the club is owned and how its members join, not on how it looks from the pavement.
Read Club premises certificate or premises licence? Licensing a private members' club
Employment · · 7 min read
Service charge at a members' club is no longer a matter of house policy. The Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023 makes fair allocation a legal duty, with a written policy and a three-year record.
Read Tips, tronc and the 2023 Act: what club operators must now do
Data protection · · 8 min read
Membership generates unusually rich personal data, and the rules that bite hardest are not in the UK GDPR at all. PECR governs the marketing email, and it works differently.
Read Member data: the consent traps in club marketing
AI governance · · 10 min read
A practical AI governance framework for small and mid-sized businesses, without the enterprise-scale overhead.
Read The SME guide to AI governance: building responsible and compliant systems
Membership · · 8 min read
Private clubs are not outside discrimination law. The associations provisions of the Equality Act 2010 govern admission, benefits and expulsion, with a narrow set of exceptions.
Read Who you can turn away: membership decisions and the Equality Act 2010
Commercial · · 9 min read
Members are consumers. That single fact brings the Consumer Rights Act 2015, the cancellation regulations and the new subscription rules to bear on your joining form.
Read Membership terms that hold up: consumer law for club operators
Corporate · · 9 min read
The choice between an unincorporated members' club, a company limited by guarantee and a proprietary operating company decides who is personally on the hook when something goes wrong.
Read Members' club or proprietary club? Choosing a structure, and where liability lands