Koko founder Olly Bengough has outlined how members' club The House Of Koko has become a cornerstone of the revitalised venue, which celebrates its 125th anniversary this year.
The Camden building operated under various names before becoming club-culture landmark The Camden Palace in 1982, before Bengough restored the 1,500-cap theatre and renamed it Koko in 2004.
Years later, he initiated a much bigger transformation into a 50,000 sq ft cultural space. He relaunched the venue in 2022 following a three-year, £70 million revamp that has seen the business go from two revenue streams to 10.
“We felt it could take the live entertainment experience to the next level,” said Bengough, speaking in the August edition of Music Week. “In order to create the best experience in the world, you need luxury hospitality. By building three restaurants and multiple bars, having the vinyl rooms, Michelin-star chefs and mixologists, working with world-class designers – all of those elements allow you to create this amazing experience.
“The other thing it allowed us to do is disrupt the traditional venue model and create new tiers of membership and commercial opportunities. By innovating, it starts opening up all kinds of doors, which makes the project way more creative and way more satisfying for your audience. In entertainment, people always want to see something new. They want to see the needle move, and I think that’s what we’ve achieved.”
It’s about having an inclusive and exclusive offering
Olly Bengough, Koko
As well as three venues for live music (Ellen’s jazz club and Cafe Koko, alongside the main theatre), there are 16 rooms backstage in the House Of Koko private members’ club, which host curated live music, DJs and cultural programming, with livestreaming integrated throughout. The building includes a new Penthouse recording studio, hidden jazz club, vinyl rooms, a roof terrace restaurant, gallery, secret bars and more.
Bengough said House Of Koko now has more than 3,500 members, adding that memberships were selling priced from £1,500 up to £100,000 for a 10-year patron package.
But the CEO stressed that Koko remains accessible, with affordable entry prices and food and drink options sitting alongside its premium membership tiers.
“Luxury [also works] at an inclusive level for the fans who pay £30 to get in,” he said. “They can go to our cafe and we’ve got artisan pizzas, we’ve got really good cocktails, they’re surrounded by Funktion-One sound, they’ve got DJs; so they’re spending maybe £50 to £60.
"Then we’ve got clients who fly in from New York, from the Middle East, from Asia – they’ve paid £100,000 for memberships. They only come three or four times a year, but when they’re in London, that is the best experience. Sometimes they spend £50,000 in one night. It doesn’t change the inclusiveness. It’s about having an inclusive and exclusive offering.”
When you do things well, you’ll find other people feel like your values, or your community and your brand, align with them
Olly Bengough, Koko
Bengough also explained how Luxury fashion houses like Miu Miu and Louis Vuitton have sought to associate themselves with Koko.
“When you do things well, you’ll find other people feel like your values, or your community and your brand, align with them," he said. "We did something incredible with Louis Vuitton and Pharrell – you wouldn’t necessarily have thought back in 2019 that Louis Vuitton would say, ‘Why don’t we take over the whole building and live-stream Pharrell’s fashion show from London?’ And now we’re seeing luxury fashion brands wanting to position themselves with Koko because of our cultural cachet.
"We’re bringing in brands who weren’t previously in live music and live entertainment, and that also adds to the artist experience and the fan experience. When you bring in quality brands, it’s a value-add. It adds to the commercial value, it adds to your membership revenue, and it allows you to talk to artists about interesting collaborations, and I think that’s the next phase for Koko now.”
Since its reopening with Arcade Fire in April 2022, the London venue has hosted more than 3,500 shows, including Liam Gallagher, Olivia Dean, Burna Boy, Stormzy, Cleo Sol and Jorja Smith.
To mark its 125th birthday, its electronic music brand Koko Electronic is presenting a series of DJ-led takeovers while other 2026 events have included Uncle Waffles, Armand Van Helden and Ayra Starr.
Asked whether Koko's wider business model could be replicated by other venues, Bengough was pragmatic.
"Almost anything can be replicated," he said. "But without a building like this which has a rich history – combined with a deep understanding of and a specific taste in design, sound, curation, guest experience, and food and drink – you may end up with a very different product that your audience doesn’t connect with."
Subscribers can read the full interview with Bengough in the new issue of Music Week here.
