Abu Dhabi club ponders next move after confirming it will leave its current plot

The Club, a leisure facility situated on coastal land in Abu Dhabi. Victor Besa/The National.

A year ago, The Club, a decades-old leisure facility situated on coastal land near Abu Dhabi’s Mina Zayed, had to contend with the challenges posed by the great April storm that rolled across the country. Record-breaking rainfall hit the facility over the course of a few hours, causing damage that took weeks to repair.

Some might say that The Club is now facing another significant challenge 12 months on from that generational storm.

Last summer, the social club informed its members (this columnist included) by email that it had been served notice on its plot, which was originally gifted to the organisation in the 1960s. “We are to be transferred from the current site to a new location by quarter four [in] 2026,” an email to its membership read.

The complex is recognised as one of the top 100 city clubs in the world and its nearly 3,500 current members hail from more than 80 countries, despite being colloquially and erroneously known to many as the “British Club”. Annual memberships cost about Dh5,000 for an adult, with new members also required to pay a joining fee. The organisation says its members consider the premises as a “second home” in the city.

In the same message, members were informed that it was the organisation’s preference to stay put. The memo said that The Club intended to hold an extraordinary general meeting once further discussions had been had with the relevant authorities. According to the organisation’s constitution, an EGM requires 28 days’ notice and can be called at any time.

Subsequent emails to members described the prospect of relocation as inevitable and confirmed that the organisation “will be moving to a new home”. The organisation also said a site had been earmarked for it in the Raha Beach area of the city, part of a ribbon of real estate adjacent to the E10 highway on the mainland, but that the conversation surrounding the relocation was “ongoing”.

Without more formal plans in place regarding when and how the organisation will move, an EGM has not been convened and won’t be until there is greater certainty about the situation. The Club declined to comment when contacted by The National about the relocation, but it did confirm that the narrative of events presented here is accurate.

To some degree, the organisation finds itself caught between its present circumstances on an expensive-to-run site that is fast ageing into mandated obsolescence and its future that is likely to involve a substantial financial outlay to realise the potential promise of a largely undeveloped site. Anyone who has ever moved home knows it’s a costly enterprise. Anyone who has ever built a house from scratch also knows financial risk and reward rarely operate in neat balance and that it might take years and significant funds to finish such a project.

Next week, The Club will hold its annual general meeting, the second such assembly since the 2024 great storm, but the first since the organisation was served its notice to leave its current plot. The organisation’s constitution requires it to hold its AGM no later than the last day of April each year. The Club’s messages about the coming meeting remind members that the meeting is an opportunity to “have their say” about the present and future of the organisation.

Despite the absence of an EGM, this year’s annual meeting is likely to be extraordinary given the circumstances, even if not by definition.

While such meetings have set rhythms and regulatory requirements regarding discussions of financial performance and plans, it may be a night when hard talk and, possibly, raw emotions about the existing site’s legacy and significance come to the fore, as well as the bigger question of what happens next?

History provides mixed precedents for those who wonder what the future might hold.

In the neighbouring emirate, Dubai Country Club was established in 1971, post-dating The Club by nearly a decade, although its main attraction was a sand golf course rather than the sandy beach. Considered a “place to be” in its 20th-century heyday, DCC closed in 2007 due to redevelopment of its site, which also sat on gifted land.

DCC hoped to move to a new location equipped with a clubhouse, several sports facilities and a large pool, but its post-global financial crisis rebirth failed when it proved impossible to raise sufficient funds for development plans.

Abu Dhabi Country Club in Mushrif, established in 1999, suspended many of its services earlier this year to undergo redevelopment, although its social media accounts say the work is intended to create a better experience for its patrons.

Before it was renamed in 2014, Abu Dhabi’s Al Zahiyah neighbourhood was known as the Tourist Club because of a beach and leisure facility built next to Le Meridien. The hotel is still an Al Zahiyah fixture and it was granted “unconditional protection” in 2023 through a Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi initiative, but the tourist club itself is long gone, even if it survived for many years as a shorthand description for a particular pocket of the city.

None of which should be read as a predictor of what may happen next to The Club, which was established in 1962, but what is certain is that dialogue will be crucial over the coming months.