Reform Club

The Reform Club has occupied Charles Barry's Italianate palazzo at 104 Pall Mall since 1841, modelled on the Palazzo Farnese in Rome and listed Grade I. Its central Saloon rises under a glazed roof through the full height of the building, and the Library, gold-leafed and almost 120 feet long, runs the length of the south front facing over Carlton Gardens. Jules Verne sent Phileas Fogg out from these rooms in Around the World in Eighty Days.

Six rooms are given over to private events. The Library is the largest, holding 250 for a reception and seating 110 on a weekday or 150 at a weekend, with the club's own kitchen behind it. Below it in scale sit the Strangers' Room, a replica of the House of Commons dining room hung with political portraits and let in the evenings, and the Garden Room, which opens through French windows onto the terrace and garden. Three smaller rooms complete the set: the Barry Room on the mezzanine, the Cabinet Room, reached through a door concealed in the panelling, and the book-lined Committee Room, in use since 1841.

The club keeps its weekdays for members, which is what makes the weekends interesting: the whole clubhouse can be taken on exclusive hire, and it is the setting the club offers for weddings. Hire runs through a member throughout, so an event here begins with an introduction rather than a booking form. The club publishes no music or amplification policy. A grand piano stands in the Library; anything beyond that is a conversation to have with the club early.