New book forthcoming...

London Clubland: A Companion for the Curious

This week, I submitted to my publisher the final manuscript for my next book, London Clubland: A Companion for the Curious.

It’s a different kind of book to my previous work, although it’s very much complementary to it; a kind of handbook for understanding Clubland, and club culture. I wrote it, because after my last book on club history, I was getting so many questions from readers, asking about clubs in the here-and-now. So this is a book about ‘Clubland’ today, and I’ve written it as a browseable, at-a-glance guide, aiming to be as comprehensive as possible. The research behind it is rigorous - some of it stretching back 15 years - but I’m aiming at something that’s a pleasantly light read.

Broadly speaking, it’s a book of two halves; the first half is an extensive, club-by-club profile of some 130 establishments operating in London today (around 55 historic clubs, and 75 modern clubs), complete with essential information and a short pen-portrait, with a potted history. For this part of the book, I drew my inspiration from the club travelogues pioneered by John Timbs in the mid-19th century, and the 1963 Clubland survey Leather Armchairs by Charles Graves, which covered old & new clubs alike.

The second part of the book serves as a broad miscellany of Clubland and club culture. It includes such things as club recipes (many of them bizarre, and all of which I have now tried for myself!), a list of the clubs of British Prime Ministers, and explanations of all manner of club quirks and traditions.

As with my last book, it’s been written with the general reader in mind - anyone who is curious as to how these places function - but I suspect it will be of particular interest to club members, not only in London, but amongst the many comparable institutions worldwide.

The clubs themselves have in no way whatsoever endorsed or encouraged the book: I wrote it completely independently of them. That said, late in the write-up process, I did run by each and every club a draft of their entry in Part One of the book, for comments and corrections; and most of the clubs have come back to me, with overwhelmingly positive and helpful suggestions.

The book is already listed with some online booksellers, with a publication date slated for 15th May 2025. The 9-month production turnaround time is partially down to the graphic component of the book; not only will it contain a comprehensive, street-by-street and building-by-building index of when each London building served as a clubhouse, but my contract allows for commissioning a range of detailed maps of current & former clubs, enabling the curious browser to organise their own historical walks. I think readers may be pleasantly surprised by how many ex-clubhouse buildings they walk past, if they’re ever in central London.

I hope it will be a delight for readers. History and culture should be fun.