Two weeks after 1880 club collapsed owing millions, the same venue is reopening with 90% of its staff — but without the founders who blamed 'hubris' for its failure. The landlord is now bankrolling the revival and asking members to trust them again.
Two weeks ago, members of Singapore's exclusive 1880 club received a midnight email that shattered their social world. "1880 will permanently close its doors on June 17," wrote founder Marc Nicholson. "Please do not come to the premises as the doors will be locked."
The abrupt closure left members who had paid S$7,000 joining fees and S$2,000 annual subscriptions suddenly shut out. In Hong Kong, where 1880 had expanded just seven months earlier, the situation was even worse — the branch owed HK$20 million (US$2.5 million) in debt, leaving 100 employees without pay for two months.
On July 1, those same members received another email — this time from "Your former1880 family." The message, seen by this reporter, contained a surprising announcement: "We are geared up to bring the former 1880 back with the familiar team you know and with backing from our landlord RB Corp." The ask was simple: trust us again. Transfer your membership. No new joining fees required.
The speed of this resurrection is breathtaking. Just 14 days from liquidation to revival, in the same Robertson Quay space where Canadian entrepreneur Marc Nicholson once promised to build "conversations that change the world." The 22,000-square-foot venue, designed by luxury furniture brand Timothy Oulton, had attracted Singapore's movers and shakers since 2017 with its hidden speakeasy, spa, and promise of intellectual discourse. Members paid S$7,000 joining fees and S$2,000 annual subscriptions for the privilege — with membership capped at 2,000, that represented S$14 million in joining fees alone if fully subscribed.
But the dream began unraveling when 1880 expanded to Hong Kong in November 2024. Property giant Swire Properties, which invested more than HK$170 million in the fit-out, watched their prestigious Two Taikoo Place tenant collapse after just seven months. "They just assumed Hong Kong was going to be the same as Singapore," one former employee told the South China Morning Post. The Hong Kong closure on May 30 triggered a domino effect that would claim the Singapore flagship two weeks later.
In his closure email to members, Nicholson's confession was brutally honest. "We created a brand that earned a reputation that brought opportunities for expansion that I could not resist," he wrote. "Call it hubris, arrogance, capitalism, or stupidity, I am solely to blame for the failure of 1880." Both the holding company 38 Degrees and operating company 1880 Pte Ltd were placed into provisional liquidation, leaving behind a trail of debt that stretched from Robertson Quay to Quarry Bay.
The numbers tell a story of spectacular financial failure. In Hong Kong, the club owed about HK$4 million in unpaid wages and around HK$15 million to suppliers and its landlord. One marketing professional who joined in March lost HK$38,000 — just two months of membership vanished. Making matters worse, Hong Kong's Customs and Excise Department launched an investigation into whether the club violated the Trade Descriptions Ordinance by promoting referral programs and selling prepaid packages shortly before closing, with members allegedly encouraged to sign up as late as mid-May.
Yet here we are, with more than 90% of the employees who worked at the shuttered club preparing to return when it reopens in August. The three co-founders — Nicholson, his wife Jean Low, and Luke Jones — will not be involved in the new venture. Instead, former general manager Tsoler Jekalian is promising a "more vibrant, elevated" experience, though what exactly will be different remains unclear beyond the absence of the founders who drove it into the ground.
The key to this phoenix-like revival is RB Corp, identified in the email as the landlord now bankrolling the venture. This appears connected to RB Capital, the real estate company owned by Kishin RK, who was instrumental in 1880's original founding. For a landlord, the calculation may be coldly practical: a fitted-out space designed specifically as a private club has limited alternative uses. Better to back a revival than watch a multi-million dollar investment sit empty.
The speed of the turnaround — from liquidation to reopening announcement in just two weeks — has sparked speculation about whether this was always the plan. By allowing the original company to fail, the new entity can potentially operate without the burden of the previous debts, picking up the assets, the trained staff, and even the members without the liabilities. It's a maneuver that's legally sound but ethically murky, especially for those left holding worthless memberships or unpaid wages.
Current members are being offered the chance to transfer their memberships without paying new joining fees, with those who had paid subscriptions in advance receiving up to three months free — a sweetener for what amounts to a remarkable request: trust us again with your money, in the same space, with the same team, just weeks after we locked you out. The deadline to confirm is July 15, creating urgency around a decision that would give most people pause.
Connected to India reported conducting an exclusive interview with cricket legend Steve Waugh at 1880 just last week. "It's sad to see 1880 down its shutters," said Himanshu Verma, CEO and Founder of Connected to India, expressing his shock at the closure. "It's also ironic... so many high-profile deals were made at that place, people made so much money, yet 1880 has now entered liquidation."
The 1880 saga reflects broader concerns about Singapore's private club industry, where members pay substantial fees upfront with little protection if things go wrong. Unlike country clubs, which are regulated, private social clubs operate in a grey area where caveat emptor is the only rule. In Singapore's tight-knit business community, where reputation is everything and memories are long, the question isn't just whether members will return — it's whether they should.
As August approaches, the former 1880 team is directing interested members to WhatsApp at +65 8227 3708, building their revival one message at a time. Whether this represents a second chance or a second mistake remains to be seen. But in a city built on reinvention, where failure is often just a prelude to the next venture, perhaps the most Singapore thing about this story is that it's happening at all.
