£1m club aims to provide a luxury retreat

The Hallion, which means "wee rascal" in Scots, aims to challenge the hegemony of the capital’s old-fashioned bolt holes such as the New Club by cashing in on a new generation of young professionals looking for a more cosmopolitan venue.

It is understood that Prince William, who is often spotted in such Edinburgh clubs as the Opal Lounge during St Andrews University term-time, has been invited to become a founder member. Leading Scottish figures also invited include the film director Simon Donald, the broadcaster and novelist Alison Craig, David Graham, the director of Canongate books, and Sophie Lesnoff, the general manager of the Glasshouse Hotel.

The Picardy Place establishment is billed as "Scotland’s first modern-style private members’ club" and aims to replicate the success of such London celebrity haunts as the Groucho Club or Soho House. It will offer its members a restaurant, a choice of three bars, private dining and meeting rooms, treatment spas, overnight accommodation, valet parking and a concierge service.

The venture aims to preserve a strong measure of exclusivity by inviting an initial 100 founder members to join for 150, with annual membership set at 350.

Glyn Partridge, the entrepreneur behind the club along with his partner Fiach Maguire, believes the club will soon attract 1,000 members before growing to its 2,000 capacity.

He said the club would welcome a range of professionals, from actors to lawyers, who would be able to enjoy a home from home atmosphere.

He said: "Edinburgh has such a vibrant mix of professionals from lawyers to those in IT to actors and MSPs, who we hope will want to come and use our club. We want to attract a diverse blend of all professions, with a good all-round balance. It seems this is something that the city is crying out for. Five years ago it might not have been right to launch such a venture but we are confident that we can replicate the success of such places as the Groucho or Soho House here.

"The feel is contemporary yet comfortable, with members given their own swipe card so they can use the place like a home. The club includes a Manhattan-style bar and a Moroccan chill-out room, as well as the more traditional port-and-cigars withdrawing room you associate with clubs.

"Members will be pampered by a high level of service yet should feel relaxed enough to order anything they want, even down to beans on toast, as well as wander into the kitchen and chat to the chef."

Mr Maguire added that the club was hoping to attract female members and provide them with a relaxed venue to meet away from crowded city centre bars. "By including a specially designed boudoir for our female members, who can pamper themselves over a glass of wine, we are reversing the male-only approach of traditional establishments," he added.

"Sometimes it is not ideal for women to have to wait alone for friends in crowded city centre bars, especially if they have to queue to get in. With the Hallion, it does not matter if you’re early or late for a rendezvous, because you’ll be in such a safe, relaxed and comfortable environment. We anticipate our membership being half male and half female, if not more women than men.

"There is no shortage of good restaurants in the capital, but it is difficult to find places to go for a casual drink where we would want to meet the people around us. That is why we will include a club table where people pitching up on their own can mingle with other members. Members can also conduct business in the club, as we have conference facilities; when you observe how much business is conducted in hotel lobbies or cafs, this is another need being addressed."

The club was designed by Sam Booth, who is behind such projects as the Lighthouse and Rogue.

A spokesman for St James’s Palace said: "The club concerned will receive a reply from Prince William, but that is obviously confidential correspondence I’m afraid."

Following the closure last year of the Caledonian Club in Edinburgh and the Royal Automobile Club in Glasgow, entrepreneurs have identified a gap in the market for a younger members’ club.

The 400-a-year Caledonian Club, which occupied four floors of a prestigious townhouse in Abercromby Place, was founded in 1826 and had links with other establishments all over the world, including the Garrick Club, in London.

With its close connections to the Conservative Party, the Caledonian, which did not begin admitting women until the late 1980s, attracted speakers including Sir Alec Douglas-Home, the former prime minister, and Tory grandees Sir Nicholas Fairbairn and Sir Malcolm Rifkind.

But with barely 200 members, the club’s committee voted overwhelmingly to dissolve it in an effort to clear mounting debts.