Third Space gears up for launch

The Third Space, or what could be described as a health and fitness version of the Groucho Club, opens in Soho on 23 May. The brainchild of chocolate heir, Joel Cadbury, along with Ollie Vigors, Matthew Freud and Howard Malin, the club sees itself in competition with bars and restaurants as much as health clubs, in offering an alternative place to hang out. Facilities in the nine-storey club include martial arts rooms with padded walls, a boxing room, a gym, a climbing wall, swimming pool and spa baths. Televisions are everywhere - on each piece of fitness equipment and even in the showers. But centrepiece is a hypnoxic running chamber, which creates low-oxygen atmospheric conditions. Highly designed, with glass walls and ceilings, a number of architects have been involved and have created different moods for each floor. Cadbury, who was inspired by New York clubs, has plans to open five more in central London and Europe: What I wanted to do was create a one-stop shop for health and fitness. And it had to be fun. Although going after celebrities to a certain extent, the membership is relatively modest at £1,080 a year, plus £97 to join.