Bagatelle has opened inside Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge. Matt Hardy went down to see if it lives up to its reputation.

It feels like every week a top football club opens a new hospitality offering that claims to reinvent what has, in reality, long been the status quo: a good bit of food and a free bar.

That changed, pretty dramatically, when Fulham opened their Riverside Stand with its £20,000 season tickets, Michelin-starred chefs and tidal wave of cocktails.

City AM was told that this offering – seen as one of the best across the Premier League’s 20 clubs – had been topped in another corner of south west London. So, naturally, we had to investigate.

If you were to search for Bagatelle on TikTok just a few months ago you’d have been met with youngsters – 20 to 40 somethings – in Saint-Tropez trying their very best to enjoy themselves in the sweaty French summer.

Do the same search today and you’ll find a very similar clientele – only inside Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge instead.

Bagatelle describes itself as a “French hospitality brand of luxury restaurants and beach clubs”. So why has it gone into football, and why Chelsea?

Bagatelle… at Chelsea?

“Chelsea are world champions, they’re known around the world, they sit in probably the most affluent postcode in sports,” Bagatelle International co-founder Salima Vellani tells City AM.

“Moving into sports was kind of the new flex for us in terms of where the brand is going – it’s more of a luxury lifestyle platform, not just a restaurant group.

“We know where our clients want us to be and so we’re moving in that direction. And sports is missing this layer and it’s never been done in Premier League football.”

The 80-cover offering is, frankly, a little odd. As a sports fan you wouldn’t have known you were at one of the capital’s great sporting arenas. As a Chelsea fan – which the lady next to me was – it may borderline on infuriating.

Getting a ticket at Chelsea is difficult as it is, especially with a number of seats being converted from general admission to hospitality. But Vellani rightly points out that they have instead taken seats away from other premium areas of the ground, rather than general admission.

“I have a brand that I have to protect,” she says. “What I don’t want to do is go in and fit into your box. What I need is [that] you fit into our vision.

“[Chelsea] and Legends, which operates the stadium, are phenomenal partners, they agreed to do it and said, ‘Let’s create something totally different that’s never been seen before’.

“I wanted to create a new category. We’ve been pioneers in the restaurant space, let’s be pioneers in the sports space. I saw a gap, and that gap is luxury VIP hospitality as opposed to what they call premium.”

The reality

What Bagatelle at Stamford Bridge is, however, is perfectly designed for a specific group of people; those who want to experience football their own way. 

Vellani says the offering has been popular with women; at last month’s Hull City game the clientele was predominantly female. 

She says it allows players, their partners and high-level guests to relax. John Terry, harassed for a picture only once or twice, certainly looked at ease.

It has a place in football, and those who hate that may not quite understand how the game has evolved. The food – ranging from tuna tartare to steak to full-time pizzas – was exceptional. The booze – often prescriptive in these settings – was plentiful and wide-ranging.

Bagatelle is known for its party atmosphere, and the Stamford Bridge opening was no different. Waiters stood on chairs singing, lights flickered on, off and on again, and everyone was encouraged to get involved. 

Singing Titanic theme My Heart Will Go On mere minutes before Chelsea saw an early Morgan Rogers goal sunk by two Hull efforts in a 2-2 draw was perhaps not the best example of foreshadowing.

The partnership stems from Chelsea’s deal with Legends – a venue management firm – and Vellani, who said Bagatelle is launching a country club concept and also heading into the boutique hotels market, explains that while this is their first club, it may not be their last.

State of the sport

“We’re partnering with Legends,” she says. “We’re having massive conversations with them and we hope to take this around the world – not only to other clubs in the UK, but the US and further afield. 

“What we don’t want to do is be in a 100 sports stadiums, because that takes away from the brand. We want to be very selective in which ones we go into and Legends are very supportive of that, and actually have recognised that there is a whole new tier of sports hospitality that has gone amiss.

“British sports fans have been very true to the sport. American fans have been very true to the experience and the environment, but Legends have said they haven’t seen this in the US either.”

The reality is the football is changing, fan demands are evolving and clubs are constantly seeking new ways to drive up their top line. That may be an uncomfortable truth for many, but a truth nonetheless.

In Bagatelle’s Stamford Bridge offering – upwards of £1,000 per head – you see hospitality goers turfed out to make room for hospitality goers. It’s like-for-like and that’s perfectly reasonable. 

What you get from the experience, meanwhile, is like nothing else in the Premier League. It’s not premium; it’s luxury. It is finding its place in modern football, and it is, frankly, an exceptional way to spend a couple of hours on a Saturday afternoon.