The revelation that the Tory MP Chris Pincher disgraced himself in the Carlton Club – that bastion of Conservative exclusivity – has shone the spotlight on the secretive world of London members’ clubs. Anyone who has walked past the hulking Victorian edifices of privilege that lurk in St James’ Street and Pall Mall will have their own opinions about the desirability of our elected representatives spending their leisure time drinking and dining among their peers in them.
Popular imagination places their membership somewhere between Phileas Fogg, gaily heading off from the Reform Club to traverse the world in 80 days, and, well, the likes of Pincher. But in Behind Closed Doors, a lively and comprehensive study of London clubs, Seth Alexander Thévoz offers a barrage of statistics that may suggest that their heyday has long since passed. We discover that nine out of 10 “traditional” establishments have gone bankrupt over the past century and that the 40 or so clubs that survive today do so because they tend to boast a distinctive culture or identity, whether their appeal is to actors (the Garrick), the armed forces (the In and Out Club) or, of course, Conservative MPs.
