London’s The Arts Club, a private members’ club co-founded by novelist Charles Dickens, will open its first overseas location in Dubai next year, said a report.

Set to be located in the new ICD Brookfield development in Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), the Arts Club’s Dubai location will occupy 63,000-sq-ft of retail space, including a 23,000-sq-ft outdoor terrace with water features, three restaurants and bars, a cigar club, art exhibition spaces, and a business centre, said a report in The National.

The Arts Club is also planning to open another site in Los Angeles in 2020.

Founded in 1863, The Arts Club was established to provide a haven for those people who had professional or amateur relationships with arts, literature or sciences and it has remained in its current 18th Century Mayfair townhouse since 1896.

Its members have included novelist Charles Dickens, artist James McNeill Whistler, composer Paolo Tosti and many luminaries from film, architecture, science, theatre, fashion and media. Current board members include Gwyneth Paltrow and famed photographer and filmmaker, Aton Corbijn.

Annual membership at the club costs around Dh10,000 ($2,722), the report said.