Brooks's Club, London

Founded in 1764 by prominent Whig nobles of the time for wining, dining, and gambling. Members were originally elected between 11pm and 1am and one blackball was enough to exclude! Some heavy and bizarre bets were placed in the early days of the club and it is said that Charles James Fox (elected at the age of 16) gambled so badly that he had to borrow from the club waiters. Club gaming counters from that period now fetch a considerable sum in auction houses.

Other notable former members include Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger and slave abolitionist, William Wilberforce. The printmaker and caricaturist Thomas Rowlandson famously depicted losers at the club bemoaning their lot at the start of the nineteenth century and Augustus Pugin more decorously illustrated the Great Subscription Room in 1808.

This is still an exclusive club with various gaming rooms and, no doubt, high stakes.

The clubhouse building, dating from 1778, was designed and constructed by Henry Holland in Palladian style with neoclassical interiors. The club holds a collection of portraits owned by the Society of Dilettanti and including works by Reynolds, Lawrence, and John Singer Sargent.

For those interested in the club’s history, the London Metropolitan Archives holds many of its historic documents.

The club website is member-login only.