Garrick Club votes to accept female members for first time

Garrick Club member Stephen Fry shakes hands with a well-wisher after the vote to allow women to join. Photograph: Graeme Robertson/The Guardian

The men-only Garrick Club has finally voted to allow women to become members, 193 years after the London institution first opened its doors.

The vote was passed with 59.98% of votes in favour at the end of a private meeting where several hundred members spent two hours debating whether to permit women to join.