The Reform Club
I have just returned from three days at the Reform Club.
I have gone though various stages. My first was the decision to join made last year after a convivial lunch with a friend member.
The accommodation is far cheaper than a West End hotel, the location in Pall Mall convenient and the Sir Charles Barry-designed building, modelled on the Palazzo Farnese in Rome, superb.
The membership process took some three months and last June my application was approved. Although the process is lengthy, requiring approval by the main Committee and support by 5 members, I appreciated that the Club wanted to increase its membership.
Such clubs have gone through a tricky phase as not admitting women, which the Reform was first to do in 1982, does not chime with modern times and – in the case of the Garrick Club – has proved divisive.
Another problem is that the younger generation do not like a dress code and prefer gym membership.
My next stage after admission was working out how the club worked.
This was a tad confusing as bedrooms are called chambers – and have no keys – and the main dining room is called the Coffee Room but does not serve coffee!
I learned that the front hall and the staff are the ‘Air Traffic Control Room’ of operations and so made an effort to remember their names and show my gratitude.
You cannot tip but there is a staff Christmas fund to contribute to.
The typical member is a lady academic but I have noticed small meetings taking place in the Hansard Bar so there is some corporate activity.
The Club also organises events and has banqueting resources.
To the rear there is access to gardens in Carlton House Terrace, shared by the neighbouring clubs the Travellers and Athenaeum: the three clubs have a garden party in the summer.
One aspect I particularly enjoy is reading the morning papers and journals in the Hansard bar. I made the decision to dispense with my subscriptions to journals, which always seemed to arrive lat,e and now I can read these in comfort over a coffee.
One senior member during my stay told me the Club ‘has had its moments’ and urged me to google Michele Renouf.
She turned out to be an Australian socialite of right wing views who invited the Holocaust-denying historian David Irving to the Club, which led to her eventual suspension and quite a furore.
The Club, originally the headquarters of the Whig party, is proud of its liberal traditions but this was going too far.
Nowadays it is apolitical.
