Say what you like about matcha raves, sunrise spin classes and run clubs; for Tramp owner Luca Maggiora – a 45-year-old banker turned nightclub owner – nothing sparks real social connection like meeting for drinks in the evening. “The connection, the energy you get at 9pm with a glass of wine, we don’t get at a 9am yoga class. Sorry, it’s impossible. There is that magic around the evening, around going out, that you’re not creating anywhere else. I truly don’t believe this world is finishing. It’s just different.”
The difference, he explains, is that Londoners are looking for balance. There’s no doubt they love going out (with Gen Z prioritising spending on experiences rather than material goods) but for many, health is a priority, too – they don’t want to be told it’s one or the other.
“Why has the narrative towards wellness in the past five years become so drastic: ‘Unless you wake up at 5am, and never drink, you’re gonna die tomorrow,’” Maggiora says, laughing.
It’s this ethos that has inspired Tramp Health, which opened in May. It’s a luxury health club spanning 16,000 square feet of Mayfair’s Chancery Rosewood Hotel by Grosvenor Square, and includes advanced health diagnostics by longevity expert Dr Mark Mikhail; a 3000 square foot gym; sauna, steam and cold plunge facilities; studios for reformer Pilates, meditation sessions and conditioning classes; and more. There’s also a 75-cover terrace and wellness cafe, with a menu designed by Tramp’s in-house nutritionist and author of numerous gut health books, Eve Kalinik.
If all this feels at odds with Tramp’s legacy, then that’s just a sign that times have changed.
Once, Tramp was notorious as a discrete party den where rock stars and royals could embrace hedonism in private. It opened on Jermyn Street in 1969, and became a favourite for The Beatles (Ringo Starr the very first official member). Keith Moon was thrown out for swinging from the chandeliers. Michael Caine once quipped that he “used to live in Tramp”, and Liza Minnelli and Joan Collins both had wedding receptions there. It’s hard to imagine them turning up to a morning Pilates class just a few minutes away in Mayfair.
Maggiora bought the original Tramp club in 2023, beginning a total overhaul of the brand. “I closed the club the day after,” he says. He refunded all its members, put £12 million into a makeover, and started building a new “community” of members that he would need to meet personally before deciding whether or not to let in. “I’m not making it about money,” he explains. “I’m going to meet them, understand what they do for a living, then decide how much I charge them after I meet them.”
The former nightclub owner believes he must have met 2000 people a week for 20 years in his line of work, making him an excellent judge of character. He can, in fact, suss whether someone shares the right values (“do you have fun the same way I have fun?”) in just a few minutes. At one point during the member application process he was taking coffee meetings with 16 to 17 people a day, “then going home, and still working again. Obsession”.
So far, he has more than 1200 members, who have access to the original Tramp venue on Jermyn Street, still operating as a members’ club. They’re allowed to join Tramp Health for £390 a month (non-members can access the space for a higher annual price). The first space they’ll enter is the cafe, with its leafy sunken terrace and menu of functional smoothies packed with lion’s mane and collagen, and colourful bowls with soba noodles, avocado and smoked salmon.
Nature provided the inspiration for the health club’s interiors, by Tommaso Franchi of Chelsea-based firm Tomef Design (Automat, Tanner Krolle, Moretti Fine Art gallery). A bronze Tree of Life statue in a large atrium greets visitors to the underground network of spaces, gently lit by ever-changing lights to echo the body’s circadian rhythm. Elsewhere, its weights room is lit by chandeliers. There’s red light therapy, IV therapy, a room for aesthetic treatments and more.
“Human experiences are made by both worlds – unforgettable nights and meaningful mornings,” he says. “I’m connecting the two.”
Tramp Health is now open at 3 Upper Grosvenor Street, W1K 2LU.
