London clubs

[sartorius]

I am considering joining a private members club in London. Primarily, I need somewhere to host and entertain clients and other contacts so my preference would be for an establishment with a decent chef, and which is not too pretentious (most of the newer clubs seems to be full of try-hards, intent mainly on throwing money around as ostentatiously as possible).

Suggestions and recommendations would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

Sartorius

[storeynicholas]

The trouble with the old clubs in St James's, such as the Carlton, White's, Boodles and so on is that they expressly forbid business meetings or even overt business talk in the club. So you could be snookered there. However, although it is not the same sort of club, Crockford's has great food, a magnificent cellar and the gaming floors are separate from the lounges and restaurant. Naturally, the food is best in the evening, owing to the nature of the club. Of course, there are other simialar place - Les Ambassadeurs (Les A), and so on. A great advantage with these places is that, if they are satisfied that they want you as a member, they often waive the joining fee and, if you see reasonable action at the gaming tables, (even if you win or at least don't lose too much), soon they waive all charges for you and a companion - but generous tips are in order. However, I am not sure where they draw the line on entertaining others - certainly one guest at a time is OK. The good news on top of all this is that you can talk about anything you like.
NJS.

[zegnamtl]

I have very little experience in this area in London, but I have visited on several occasions at the Royal Automobile Club (Pall Mall) and found it to be a wonderful place.

A ladies only lounge, gent only too, great turkish baths, dinning area was warm and the food very acceptable. You would get discount rates and advanced booking on rooms at the club when booking for your clients to stay over in London.

It is the only club I have been to in London and would suggest at least taking a look.

[storeynicholas]

The long bar in the basement of the RAC is now open to the ladies. I am afraid that the days of chaps finding a sanctuary anywhere, are passing away. The RAC also has a great swimming pool and many other facilities. Still, it is nolt quite up there with White's or the Carlton and the rule against business transaction still applies.
NJS

[sartorius]

I should add to my original post by encouraging suggestions for establishments which will admit new members without them having to be proposed by at least one current member. Whilst it happens that I know a member of the RAC and also a member at The Reform Club, I was not planning to seek out members of clubs specifically with a view to being put forward.

More and more clubs are now opening their doors to new members through independent application (The Liberal Club for example) - presumably because memberships are dwindling and with them the levels of subscriptions - and so that seems to me a much less arduous route.

[storeynicholas]

Always remember Groucho Marx's advice: never join a club which will have you. A member of the Liberal club in the Lounge? What? What? What? What?!!!!

[HappyStroller]

Now, these are what we can call are true gentlemen's clubs.

What about politics, race, religion or sxx?

The trouble with the old clubs in St James's, such as the Carlton, White's, Boodles and so on is that they expressly forbid business meetings or even overt business talk in the club.
...<snipped>....
NJS.

[culverwood]

I'm pretty sure the Army and Navy (now in St James Sq) no longer needs proposers and it is no too bad.

[storeynicholas]

The thing is that, like everything else nowadays, everything is open to everyone, if they can afford to pay for it. There is a scheme in hand to sell entry to the Royal Enclosure at Ascot. whether this is a good or a bad thing, I cannot say. However, on Happy Stroller's point, as far as I know, members of clubs talk to each other about ordinary conversational things and avoid polemics and business.
NJS

[whittaker]

You may have mutually exclusive objectives. The ostentatious types join those clubs that simply require a fee. Those joining are hardly clubbable so they are unable to gain access to the older clubs.

There are establishments like the Lansdowne, Savile and East India clubs that I think will allow unproposed members after a token interview. Home House in Portman Square is pleasant and has a fine chef but the members ... well.

Alternatively you have several clubs around Soho (not that sort of club!) that cater loosely to those in the creative arenas. The Century comes to mind, as does the Union and Soho House. There is also the Hospital in Covent Garden. Later in the year, the Paramount is due to open at the top of Centre Point.

[RWS]

. . . . Whilst it happens that I know a member of the RAC and also a member at The Reform Club, I was not planning to seek out members of clubs specifically with a view to being put forward. . . .

Why not ask to be put forward at the Reform Club? It's one of the nicest of the London clubs (one of the nicest of those few I've acquaintance with, that is) and well-suited to meetings with clients, I should think (though not working meetings, of course: as other Loungers have noted, probably no real club allows discussion of business within the house).

[sartorius]

Home House is a case in point. I was taken there a few years ago by an ex-colleague. One of the most pretentious places I have visited and a thoroughly ghastly evening as I remember. And to think that the fine Mayfair house in which the club is located used to be the London home of Sir Alec Douglas-Home (pronounced "Hume" of course, which the owners of Home House seem to have ignored or remained ignorant).

Joking aside (and yes, NJS, I chuckled at your well aimed jests), I am not really interested in joining a club for reasons of political affiliation or other shared interest, it is really just that it is convenient to be able to use a well appointed and congenial establishment for meetings formal and informal. While London has plenty of bars and restaurants, it is actually quite difficult to find places where one can chat in a sedate and relaxed atmosphere, without having to shout over the noise of the other punters, and then to stroll through to dinner without being crammed onto a table with barely any elbow room between you and your neighbours.

And I'm certainly not confining my search to the great establishments of St James's. I was recently entertained at the Institute of Directors on Pall Mall, which was a perfectly pleasant evening and very much geared towards business members. At the other end of the scale, I used to visit the Groucho Club in Soho quite regularly, but I think that this sort of media/artistic establishment is not quite what I'm after. When I first went there it was well know that Liam Gallagher (vocalist with Mancunian band Oasis - they're big over here, believe me) had been ejected for throwing snooker balls across the bar. I'm not sure how that would go down with a client...

[storeynicholas]

well, yes The Institute of Directors would meet the need and is very pleasant. The Cavendish Hotel in Jermyn Street is usually reasonably quiet in the bars and restaurant. People do go in there but it's just seldom heaving and never noisey.
NJS

[whittaker]

Yes, I would agree with that IoD probably meets your requirements adequately. You can certainly host and entertain clients there. The chef is acceptable by club standards. It can be a little pompous but not overly so.

I agree that Home House is rather painful though it does have a good chef. As a client I have enjoyed being invited to the private dining rooms there. I toured as a prospective member but it was not for me.

[bengal-stripe]

And to think that the fine Mayfair house in which the club is located used to be the London home of Sir Alec Douglas-Home (pronounced "Hume" of course, which the owners of Home House seem to have ignored or remained ignorant).

Home House was commissioned by Elizabeth, Countess of Home, the building was begun in 1776. By 1795 it was no longer in the Home family.

After various owners, it had beome the town house of Samuel and Elizabeth Courtauld. After Elizabeth's death in 1931, Coutauld transfers the house for use by the newly established Institute for the study of Art History and establishes the Home House Society in his wife’s memory. The Courtauld Institute of Art (University of London) occupies the building between 1932 and 1989, when the Institute moved to Somerset House in the Strand. (During his directorship 1947-1974, Anthony Blunt, “The Fourth Man” occupied a flat on top of the building.)

Rolf