Molly Hooper Aldridge’s solution for balancing work, home, and family life
Molly Hooper Aldridge shares her journey from global PR leader to founder of The JJ Club, a luxury family-focused members’ club, offering innovative solutions for modern families in SW London.
Molly Hooper Aldridge is a trailblazing entrepreneur whose career has been defined by innovation, leadership, and a deep understanding of community needs. As the founder of The JJ Club, a luxury private members’ club designed to support modern families, Molly has created a transformative space that caters to the unique challenges of balancing work and family life. With a vision that spans from tots to teens, The JJ Club is more than just a family hub—it’s a lifeline for SW London families navigating the complexities of modern living. Molly’s ability to blend her professional expertise with her personal experiences as a mother has resulted in a groundbreaking concept that is reshaping family life in her community.
Molly’s entrepreneurial journey is nothing short of inspiring. From her early days leading global PR agencies to founding and scaling successful businesses, she has consistently demonstrated a knack for identifying gaps in the market and delivering innovative solutions. The JJ Club is no exception. Named after her two sons, Jake and Joshua, the club reflects Molly’s passion for creating a space where families can thrive. With a robust digital platform, a curated events calendar, and partnerships with over 120 luxury brands, The JJ Club has already become a cornerstone for SW London families. As Molly prepares to open the club’s first flagship site, her vision of a luxurious, family-focused space that combines work, play, and relaxation is set to redefine what it means to be a modern family in London.
What inspired you to create The JJ Club, and how does it reflect your personal experiences as a mother in SW London?
The inspiration behind The JJ Club are my two energetic boys – Jake & Joshua. I have been a busy working mum all their lives and as a family, we have always needed ongoing support to help with the modern juggle of work and family life – so fully understand the problem we’re solving! There are not enough spaces locally catering for all our family needs and so I decided to solve the problem myself!
There are some amazing family clubs and communities across London and the wider country, but The JJ Club will be the first of its kind to really cater to all ages, rather than just babies and kids.
How do you envision The JJ Club evolving in the future to continue supporting families as they navigate the challenges of modern life?
Starting life as a digital club, The JJ Club will continue to add relevant brand partners and events to their online platform ensuring SW London families are benefiting from significant discounts across likeminded brands they know and love. In addition, more recommended professionals are often added into our Little Black Book of trusted experts (from dog walkers to interior designers to baby sitters), ultimately evolving us into a cornerstone for our SW London community with the opening of our first flagship club targeted to open late 2025.
Can you share some of the key challenges you faced while transitioning from leading global PR agencies to founding a family-focused private members’ club?
Assembling the right Avengers was critical: a team that is as passionate about building something special for families and has that depth & breadth in hospitality, operations and club membership. Learning to be entirely independent and wear every single hat requires resilience, passion and commitment – securing an advisory board and trusted local support has made a real difference here. I have found that some skills are very much transferable in terms of building out a business that people want to be a part of, creating a brand and club that members want to join, and leading a small but perfectly formed team of people. I’m used to the entrepreneurial rollercoaster and whilst this business is certainly my most personal and most ambitious yet I have learnt enough over the years to always ask for help, lean in to solving the little problems that crop up every day and drive on to deliver!
How do your experiences in marketing and PR influence the way you approach brand strategy and community engagement for The JJ Club?
Having over twenty years’ experience in PR & Comms has very much helped me in driving awareness, engagement and conversion of our digital club and brand. Having a clear business vision & values from the start alongside a consistent brand language and look & feel has allowed us to build out an engaged local community at pace. Ensuring all our brand messages are relevant to our community is key – and using organic social media channels, PR & Influencer engagement, and email marketing allows us to spread the word amongst this community, as well as word of mouth across our target market (particularly amongst the mums at the school gate.
Can you elaborate on the types of events and experiences that members can expect from The JJ Club’s curated events calendar?
We have a varied events calendar with 20+ events every month for our members, including Reformer Pilates, Kids’ Cooking Class with Soft Play, Run Club, Cocktail masterclasses and more. While some of these events are included in our digital membership (£15 per month, £160 annual), others are ticketed separately, at a reduced members’ rate. And many of our events are exclusive to The JJ Club so a great way to meet fellow members and locals. For non-locals we also run regular online events including sleep training workshops for little ones and tutoring workshops for 10+,11+ and 13+.
How does The JJ Club’s partnership with Little Village align with your vision of making a meaningful difference in the local community?
Our ethos is to make family life easier and make a positive difference in the community, and this includes supporting local charities who do so much for those in need. We launched with our charity partner Little Village who run a network of baby banks passing on loved goods from one family to another so that many more babies and young children have what they need to thrive. They also connect families into a wider network of support, helping them to build and extend their own ‘village’. Little Village very much aligns with our own core business values of Passion, Playfulness, Courage, Kindness and Excellence so collaborating with them from the start and giving back to the local community was super important.
What are some of the most popular perks and benefits that members have access to through The JJ Club’s partnerships with luxury brands?
We now have over 120 luxury likeminded brand partners in our digital club for all our members to benefit from – every day. Some of our most popular perks and benefits so far are from within our food & drink, parenting & pets, wellness & beauty and travel & culture pillars – partners such as Roarsome, Chez Bruce, Barracudas & Sports Fusion, Champagnes & Chateaux, Turquoise Holidays, Calder & Co and Fair Oak Farm. Our events calendar is also proving popular with members enjoying Reformer Pilates, personal training with Oliver Black, and Millie & Maisie soft play and cooking classes.
How do you see The JJ Club evolving once the flagship physical site opens, and what additional benefits will it offer to members?
The JJ Club physical club will be a luxurious, family members club for the whole family to work, rest & play. We will ensure spaces for the kids to be entertained (& supervised), as much as spaces for adults to enjoy, work, stay fit and relax, and spaces for families to hang out together too. We’re planning a pool and gym, large co-working space, screening room, and 2 distinct areas for tots, tweens and teens, alongside 2 restaurants. The vision is to open the first flagship site amongst my own community (I have lived in SW London all my life) and then look to other affluent London villages and beyond that also needs a space and club like this locally to make a difference.
