London & South East Premier Hospitality

Victory Services Club

Victory Services, Seymour Street, London
Written by Roma Publications

Victory Services, Seymour Street, London

Having been in existence since 1907, the Victory Services Club is a private members club with memberships exclusively for serving members of the armed forces, veterans and their families.

The venue has been located on Seymour Street, London, since just after the Second World War.

The exclusive club has been investing heavily in refurbishing dining facilities for members and their guests, installing a new kitchen and increasing the size of space. In terms of the first phase, the project is worth £1.75million. Collectively this is quite a large project in financial terms but its impact on its members is going to be considerable.

Victory Services, Seymour Street, London

To discuss the project, Premier Hospitality caught up with Nigel Beet, Chief Executive Officer and Club Secretary of the Victory Services Club. Nigel commented:

“What we’re providing is an extremely special dining facility that serves multiple purposes for members, which will be a huge leap forward.  The project has been extremely complex, moving walls in a building that was built in 1907, so there has been lots of additional steelwork and issues in respect of drainage, wiring and asbestos.”

Developments onsite began in February this year, with the first phase completed this October. Phase one comprised all of the work on the ground floor, including refurbishment of the dining facilities. Due to finding asbestos and having to reassess the structural work, the project faced a fairly slow start – however since that, the developments have continued at a steady pace.

Victory Services, Seymour Street, London

Nigel told us:

“The initiation of the project was triggered by the fact that our dining facilities were unable to provide a comfortable and modern dining experience for breakfast, lunch and dinner – in fact our dining room could previously only take 56 covers, with 16 tables. However now we have expanded our ground floor dining room by going through to the next room, creating a new capacity of 130 covers and 50 tables.”

“We have also created a new dispense bar and a fantastic kitchen, and facilities which are going to be terrific for our members for many years ahead.”

Presenting a smart and comfortable venue, the Victory Services Club will also offer flexibility. Featuring an inviting coffee area and a space named ‘The Grill’ which will be used for informal dining. The dining space is broken up by a piece of artwork cleverly acting as a room divider, presenting the formal Club Dining Room.

Victory Services, Seymour Street, London

The space gives people the opportunity to grab a coffee and a pastry first thing in the morning, to having an informal lunch and a very formal dining experience in the evening with the fantastic team of staff.

As a large organisation, the Victory Services Club includes various membership categories from 26 different countries and comprising 34,000 members. However the club is not open to the public, the services are only available to members and their guests.

Nigel commented:

“We exist for our club members, but the new development is going to provide them with extremely modern and comfortable dining facilities offering flexibility and choice, which is the two things they have not had before.”

Victory Services, Seymour Street, London

Admirably, the club team also offers respite breaks to servicemen and their families, utilising their 202 club bedrooms, giving a break to those who need it. The team do a lot of charitable work and provide many venues with the use of their seven event rooms, maximising the use of these rooms to fulfil their charitable objectives of helping to relieve hardship and distress amongst the serving armed forces personnel.

Nigel commented:

“Anything that we can do to support our members is really important to us.”

Victory Services, Seymour Street, London

8build Ltd

Having been in operation for 10 years, 8build Ltd is a main contractor within the construction industry, offering fit out, refurbishment and new build services across a variety of sectors, including  arts and leisure, commercial, education, residential, healthcare and historic.

8build Ltd has had the opportunity to work on a range of outstanding projects across their various divisions. Amongst these include private members clubs, top London universities, high end residential clients, large corporate companies, hospitals and schools.

Victory Services, Seymour Street, London

The company acted as main contractor whilst working on the Victory Services Club – an exclusive members club for those currently serving in the armed forces and veterans. Premier Hospitality spoke to Wayne Ramson, of 8build Ltd to discuss the project. Wayne said:

“We won this project off the back of our recent work for a private members club that was received very well. Our team was recognised for being experienced with working in this club environment, delivering projects with as little disruption to the club and its members at all times.

“8build are huge supporters of recruiting service leavers through the Career Transition Partnership and were delighted to work on a project that benefits retired and serving members of the armed forces.”

Wayne added:

“We pride ourselves on our ability to deliver projects such as these, taking into account the needs of the client and their members during construction works. We are proud of our dedicated staff, willing to go the extra mile to deliver the best possible project with honesty and integrity.”

About the author

Roma Publications