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Pratt's is a gentlemen's club in
The premises were later acquired by the 11th Duke of Devonshire.
It has around 600 members, but only 14 can dine at one time at the single table in the basement dining room. The club has two rooms: a dining room, and a sitting room/smoking room. Also housed in the premises is a billiard room (which is primarily used for guests to hang their coats on the chairs), a larger dining room used for lunches or private parties, a small suite that members are required to book well in advance, and the steward's quarters above.
As the building is heritage-listed (certain parts of it date back to the 16th century), there is no air conditioning, nor is there a lift; there are roughly 100 stairs from the basement club to the steward's quarters.
To avoid confusion, all male staff members are referred to as 'George'.
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
. It was established in 1857, with premises in a house in Park Place, off St James's Street, and close to the Ritz London.
History
The club takes its name from William Nathaniel Pratt, who lived there from 1841. Pratt was steward to the Duke of Beaufort, who called at the house with his friends one evening, and enjoyed themselves so much that they returned time and again. After Pratt's death in 1860, the club was continued by his widow, Sophia, and son, Edwin.
The premises were later acquired by the 11th Duke of Devonshire.
It has around 600 members, but only 14 can dine at one time at the single table in the basement dining room. The club has two rooms: a dining room, and a sitting room/smoking room. Also housed in the premises is a billiard room (which is primarily used for guests to hang their coats on the chairs), a larger dining room used for lunches or private parties, a small suite that members are required to book well in advance, and the steward's quarters above.
As the building is heritage-listed (certain parts of it date back to the 16th century), there is no air conditioning, nor is there a lift; there are roughly 100 stairs from the basement club to the steward's quarters.
To avoid confusion, all male staff members are referred to as 'George'.
Notable members
Notable members have included Charles Wyndham, Harold Macmillan,Randolph Churchill
Randolph Frederick Edward Spencer-Churchill (28 May 1911 – 6 June 1968) was an English journalist, writer, soldier, and politician. He served as Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Preston from 1940 to 1945.
The only son of British ...
, Duncan Sandys
Edwin Duncan Sandys, Baron Duncan-Sandys (; 24 January 1908 – 26 November 1987), was a British politician and minister in successive Conservative governments in the 1950s and 1960s. He was a son-in-law of Winston Churchill and played a key r ...
and the cartoonist Osbert Lancaster
Sir Osbert Lancaster, CBE (4 August 1908 – 27 July 1986) was an English cartoonist, architectural historian, stage designer and author. He was known for his cartoons in the British press, and for his lifelong work to inform the general p ...
, who featured the armchair and stuffed fish in the members lounge in many of his cartoons.
See also
*List of London's gentlemen's clubs
This is a list of gentlemen's clubs in London, United Kingdom, including those that no longer exist or merged, with an additional section on those that appear in fiction. Many of these clubs are no longer exclusively male.
Extant clubs
Defun ...
* Blades Club
References
*From: 'Park Place, South Side', Survey of London: volumes 29 and 30: St James Westminster, Part 1 (1960), pp. 542–45. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=40627. Date accessed: 26 September 2007. *The Arts of Cheerfulness. URL: http://www.johnderbyshire.com/Opinions/Straggler/089.html (Final paragraph is an anecdote about Michael Heseltine being blackballed by Pratt's members) Gentlemen's clubs in London 1857 establishments in England {{UK-org-stub