This is an incomplete list of private members' clubs with physical premises in London, United Kingdom, including those that no longer exist or have merged, with an additional section on those that appear in fiction. Historically most of these clubs were gentlemen's clubs with membership restricted to men. More recently,[when?] a number of women-only clubs have been formed.
Jenner’s - a gaming club founded by the rough boxer Ivo Jenner, mentioned in the works of author Lisa Kleypas, later managed by the devilish Lord St. Vincent.
Marine Commando Club, Paddington – frequented by Julian and Sandy from the BBC radio comedy Round the Horne. Note that Kenneth Horne's radio alter ego, a member of the Athenaeum, described it as "not my sort of club".
Old Bohemian Club – "Bunny" and Raffles' club in E. W. Hornung's Raffles stories.
Pelican Club - Sir Galahad's (Gally's) club in P.G. Wodehouse's A Pelican at Blandings
Progress Club – a club that "...intended to do great things for Liberal Party . . . and had in truth done little or nothing." mentioned in the novel The Prime Minister by Anthony Trollope.
Senior Conservative Club – features in P.G. Wodehouse's novel Psmith in the City. Although fictional, the description of a large, Conservative-aligned club in Northumberland Avenue tallies perfectly with the real-life Constitutional Club at No.28 and Nevill's Victorian Turkish Baths at No.25 Northumberland Avenue, "twenty yards from the club's front door" (which baths were also used by Sherlock Holmes and Raffles).
Thackeray Club – club supposedly founded 1864 according to a bronze plaque by entrance door pictured in the musical comedy. dance movie Top Hat from 1935 starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers along with Edward Everett Horton.
Tweedles Club – club in the movie You Must be Joking 1965, American Films Limited, starring Terry Thomas, Michael Callan, Lionel Jefferies, Denholm Elliott, Wilfrid Hyde White and Bernard Cribbins.
Whitehall Club – the setting of the murder mystery in the novel Keep It Quiet (1935) by Richard Hull.
Sheppard, F. H. W., ed. (1960). "Pall Mall, North Side, Existing Buildings". Survey of London: volumes 29 and 30: St James Westminster, Part 1. Institute of Historical Research. pp. 339–345. Retrieved 18 November 2017.
The Gentlemen's Clubs of London by Anthony Lejeune, first published 1979, most recently in 2012 by Stacey International.
References
^Hanson, Kyra (25 April 2018). "Women-Only Member's Clubs: Sexist And Elitist Or A Way For Women To Get Ahead?". Londonist. Retrieved 22 March 2024. My clients are 98% women so it's important for me to mix with other women. The women have similar personalities and it's a lovely place to catch up with friends for lunch or my hubby for drinks after work [...].
^Hart, Anna (26 February 2019). "Women-only clubs: the future is female". Condé Nast Traveller. In a female environment, women are more likely to speak up, talk about their successes and be a bit more open and honest about some of the challenges that they face [...].
^ a b cBarber, Sonya (26 February 2020). "The best female-only spaces in London". Condé Nast Traveller. Retrieved 24 March 2024. The backlash to the shape-shifting political landscape of the past two years has been thrillingly fast, fierce and female. All-women societies, clubhouses, retreats and trips are on the rise [...].
^Smith, Ellie (2024). "London's Best Women's Members' Clubs To Join This year". Country & Town House. Retrieved 24 March 2024. When members' clubs first came about, they were reserved for wealthy men. Pall Mall and St James's Street were the hub of what was known as Clubland – a cluster of venues designed exclusively for high-society men, with women outright banned. Yet, thankfully, the club scene has evolved a great deal over the years [...].
^ a bDerrick, Florence (30 July 2019). "Elitist or Empowering? Inside the Women-Only Private Members' Clubs". Florence Derrick. Retrieved 24 March 2024.
^"The Club History : Royal London Yacht Club".
^Dalamal, Malika (3 April 2013). "London's first female-only club". BBC. Retrieved 24 March 2024. Men are strictly not allowed at anytime except for Thursday nights, when – in a reversal of the age-old tradition – they are permitted to enter the club for dinner.
^Prynn, Jonathan (19 February 2019). "Health club where royalty and A-list celebs were members shuts down amid Brexit fears". Standard. Retrieved 24 March 2024. I regret to advise the Grace Belgravia has ceased operations and the Club has closed.
^"Pall Mall, North Side, Existing Buildings | British History Online". www.british-history.ac.uk. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
^London Street Directory for 1902
^"The Londoner: Scandal-hit women's club The Wing closes". Standard. 24 August 2020. Retrieved 24 March 2024. Women-only club The Wing is shutting down its London location for good after being hit by accusations of racism and bullying.
^"Anthony Trollope: TV and Radio: Television: The Pallisers: Episodes 13–19". 29 November 2014. Archived from the original on 29 November 2014.
Further reading
Anonymous (1950). Your Club. London: Whitbread.
Anonymous (Marsh, Charles & Mackenzie, Colin) (1828). The Clubs of London. London: H. Colburn, 2 vols.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
Black, Barbara (2012). A Room of His Own: A Literary-Cultural Study of Victorian Clubland. Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press. ISBN 978-0-8214-2016-4.
Clark, Peter (2000). British Clubs and Societies, 1580–1800: The Origins of an Associational World. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-924843-5.
Milne-Smith, Amy (2011). London Clubland: A Cultural History of Gender and Class in Late-Victorian Britain. London: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-230-12076-1.
Nevill, Ralph (1911). London Clubs: Their History & Treasures. London: Chatto & Windus.
Thévoz, Seth Alexander (2018). Club Government: How the Early Victorian World was Ruled from London Clubs. London: I.B. Tauris/Bloomsbury. ISBN 978-1-78453-818-7.
Thévoz, Seth Alexander (2022). Behind Closed Doors: The Secret Life of London Private Members' Clubs. London: Robinson/Little, Brown. ISBN 978-1-47214-646-5.
Timbs, John (1866). Clubs and Club Life in London. London: J. Bentley. Link
