We Are Howard: private club paving the way for more?

Private clubs have been threatening to boom in Sydney for years, but who would have picked Marrickville as the genre's early epicentre?

It isn't yet a case of step-aside Soho House, in fact, its co-founder, chef Jared Ingersoll, isn't sure what they'll charge members or how to label the venue.

"I don't like the name private club, I prefer clubhouse of the future," he says.

Ingersoll, who earned his stripes at Danks Street Depot and just departed the Butcher and the Farmer restaurant in Glebe, does have a name for the venue. "It's called We Are Howard," he says. In true Aussie style they have laid some turf on the rooftop, planted some vegies and hope to run some open-air barbecues and yoga breakfasts up there. Eventually, the plan is to have paid up members who can drop in and work on their laptops between "movie nights" while Ingersoll toils at his test kitchen. But We Are Howard – which is on the corner of Marrickville and Illawarra roads – will initially make its events and facilities available to all and sundry. All very egalitarian, in a Groucho Club sort of way.