A place to work, create, meet people or simply hang out — YAAD wants to create a new kind of clubhouse for London’s “Culture and the Curious.”
London definitely isn’t short of things to do. But when you’re over 25 and looking for somewhere to meet new people, work on an idea, pick up a new hobby or simply exist outside of your home or workplace, suddenly the options can feel a little limited.
Enter YAAD.
Pronounced “yard” and using the Jamaican patois spelling, YAAD takes its name from the idea of home, roots and belonging. The West London-based non-profit CIC describes itself as “building the place for the culture and the curious” and this October, it is bringing that idea to life with its first month long Black History Month residency in Hammersmith.
The concept is refreshingly simple: somewhere you can work, create, play, lounge and connect without feeling like you have to constantly buy something to justify being there.
More than a co-working space
Throughout October, YAAD’s clubhouse will be open Tuesday to Saturday from 10am–10pm and Sundays from 11am–5pm.
Members affectionately known as Yaadies; can use the space for co-working, but there’s much more on offer.
The creative equipment includes sewing machines, a Cricut Maker 3, heat press, craft equipment, DJ decks and a photography set up.
So you could genuinely arrive planning to answer a few emails and leave having learned how to DJ.
The space is also designed to change throughout the day.
Mornings are quieter and geared towards deep work, evenings are geared to workshops, playing games or simply hanging out.
October’s exciting programme includes beat making workshops, an Afro-fusion dance class, sewing and repair sessions, a Black History Month quiz and karaoke night, and a creative and media pitch night.
What happens when you turn 25?
There’s a reason YAAD is specifically aimed at the over-25 crowd.
Founder Lois noticed that while there are plenty of schemes for people aged 16–24, things can suddenly become a lot quieter once you hit 25 as if, somewhere between birthdays, you were supposed to have life figured out.
YAAD challenges that idea.
Its philosophy can probably be summed up in one sentence: you didn’t age out of ambition.
For a lot of us, our late twenties and thirties are actually when we start understanding what we want to do or build. You might suddenly decide you want to learn a new skill or finally start that hobby you’ve been thinkinh about.
Additionally, you don’t have to call yourself a “creative” to belong at YAAD.
Here, creativity is less about your job title and more about curiosity. If you’re willing to try something once, you’ll probably fit right in.
There’s another problem YAAD is quietly trying to address: making friends as an adult can be hard.
London is a city of millions of people, yet it’s surprisingly hard to find somewhere you actually feel comfortable turning up alone.
Walk in solo, leave with friends
YAAD wants community to happen by design rather than accident. “Walk in solo, leave with friends” and it’s already happening. One person attended a YAAD event and left with four potential collaborators. One attendee came to an event and left with four potential collaborators.
After welcoming more than 300 people over the summer, the October residency is a chance to see what happens when that community has somewhere to stay for longer than an evening.
Yard was inspired by founder Lois’ experiences of other membership spaces where the reality didn’t match the promise: extortionate membership fees that didn’t include events, constant upselling, waiting lists and systems made belonging feel transactional.
That’s why YAAD deliberately calls itself a clubhouse rather than a members’ club.
Membership for the October residency starts at £45, with full access at £60, day passes start from £12.50 for anyone who wants to try the space first.
At a time when so much of London’s social life revolves around either working, drinking or spending money, YAAD is making a case for something much simpler:
somewhere to be.
Somewhere you can bring your laptop. Somewhere you can make something. Somewhere you can learn something completely random.
For October, that somewhere is Hammersmith.
This residency as only the beginning, with the Yaad ultimately working towards a permanent West London home.
Come as you are. Because you deserve to be here.
