Everything you wanted to know about the Clubland Substack (but were afraid to ask...)

Dear Subscriber,

I’m aware that with this Substack newsletter on clubs having had a “soft launch”, I’ve not yet taken the time to explain what you can expect from it.

Firstly, a tremendous “thank you” to everyone who's joined the mailing list for this. And a particularly big “thank you” to my paid subscribers, for your early patronage of this venture. It's not only extremely encouraging, but the fact that the Substack is evolving into an income stream makes it easier for me to justify reliably setting aside part of my week to keep writing expansively in this area, and to treat it as a professional commitment. 

At this stage, my priority is still very much to develop the “public” parts of the Substack, since it's all very new, and I'd like to highlight the kinds of formats that the newsletter will keep covering. I'm also fully committed to free users of the Substack having a full, rewarding experience in their own right.

Above all, the aim will be to offer varied and informed content on private members’ clubs, which can't easily be found anywhere else, online or offline. While I will obviously always remain constrained by keeping a certain number of confidences (so this won't be the place for dissembling unsubstantiated gossip, or breathless reporting of recent machinations in any particular club), I do want it to be more than just an aggregator of news that's already out there - if I share existing club news, it should come with some original analysis, to give it some added value. And I’m sitting on plenty of original topics of my own to share. Some will have recurring headings - “Lost Clubs” (like this, on London’s Junior Carlton Club), “Clubs in Film” (like this, on clubs in Barry Lyndon), overviews of clubs found in a specific geographical area (like this, on clubs in Paris, or this, on historic clubs of the Pacific islands) - while many will be one-off features on major themes that have caught my eye (whether it’s ruminations on Clubland legal advice, or just a Clubland historical question that’s been occupying my mind). I've already sketched out the next 50 topics to post about, to say nothing of new ideas and issues that may come up...

But as you may have seen, I've also started rolling out a member-only resource for paid subscribers, which is taken from my own private notes and records built up over the last 15 years: the global clubs database, which will be rolled out in regional instalments - Africa and Central America have already gone out. This makes no attempt to assess or review clubs - my Substack isn't the place for that - but is a genuine attempt to comprehensively catalogue which clubs are out there. It can never be more than a “best attempt”, because even after many years of working around this area, I am still discovering clubs all the time, new clubs are continuously launching, and clubs are often closing, too. But it should hopefully be an invaluable resource. 

Once I've rolled that out, I'll be sharing other features with paid subscribers, like my club-related articles that are currently behind paywalls. This should include things like a new piece I recently completed, on the many club memberships of Winston Churchill, and how he used them.

And this week, for example, will involve a “long read” for all readers: a historical inquiry into if and how the private clubs of 1960s and 1970s Rhodesia propped up the Ian Smith regime.

Looking ahead, I'm very open to suggestions from readers. By that, I don't mean that I'd write pieces on a formal commission basis; but if subscribers would like to propose club-related areas that they'd like to see pieces written about, then I'm very receptive to all constructive suggestions. You can leave suggestions in the comments below, or email me at seththevoz@gmail.com

Thanks again for the encouraging feedback, and I hope that as the Substack grows, it becomes an indispensable and varied resource for those who take an interest in the club world. 

Best wishes, 

Seth