Press Club
Encyclopedia
The Press Club was established in 1882 as a London
gentlemen's club
. For much of its history, it occupied premises in Wine Office Court, near Fleet Street
. It still exists today, as a society for journalists, but no longer offers club facilities, which ended with its leaving Wine Office Court in 1986.
It was founded with an inaugural dinner at Anderton's Hotel, on Fleet Street, on 22 October 1882, presided over by the prominent journalist and cartoonist George Augustus Sala. The club is a founder member of the European Federation of Press Clubs. It has traditionally been considered much less formal, and even quite raucous, compared to most traditional London gentlemen's clubs - as exemplified by the club being the first to do away with a requirement for gentlemen to wear ties, in the early 1960s.
Notable members have included Lord Beaverbrook
, and John Jacob Astor, 1st Baron Astor of Hever
.
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
gentlemen's club
Gentlemen's club
A gentlemen's club is a members-only private club of a type originally set up by and for British upper class men in the eighteenth century, and popularised by English upper-middle class men and women in the late nineteenth century. Today, some are more open about the gender and social status of...
. For much of its history, it occupied premises in Wine Office Court, near Fleet Street
Fleet Street
Fleet Street is a street in central London, United Kingdom, named after the River Fleet, a stream that now flows underground. It was the home of the British press until the 1980s...
. It still exists today, as a society for journalists, but no longer offers club facilities, which ended with its leaving Wine Office Court in 1986.
It was founded with an inaugural dinner at Anderton's Hotel, on Fleet Street, on 22 October 1882, presided over by the prominent journalist and cartoonist George Augustus Sala. The club is a founder member of the European Federation of Press Clubs. It has traditionally been considered much less formal, and even quite raucous, compared to most traditional London gentlemen's clubs - as exemplified by the club being the first to do away with a requirement for gentlemen to wear ties, in the early 1960s.
Notable members have included Lord Beaverbrook
Max Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook
William Maxwell "Max" Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook, Bt, PC, was a Canadian-British business tycoon, politician, and writer.-Early career in Canada:...
, and John Jacob Astor, 1st Baron Astor of Hever
John Jacob Astor, 1st Baron Astor of Hever
Lieutenant-Colonel John Jacob Astor, 1st Baron Astor of Hever DL was a British military officer, statesman, a newspaper proprietor, and a member of the prominent Astor family...
.