We went to Woods, our old house, for clubbing. (Pepys diary, July 1660).



But it was in the 18th century that the club scene in London really went wild. Everyone who was anyone was a member of a club.



Clubs generally met weekly, in a tavern; eating, singing and debating were the essential activities.



Some notable 18th century London clubs:



Kit-Kat Club, Shire Lane - its members were leading Whigs.



Robin Hood Club, Butcher Row - masons, smiths, etc. Each member was allowed to speak for five minutes.



Beefsteak Club, Covent Garden - devoted to drinking and wit interspersed with snatches of song and much personal abuse.



Twopenny Club - a poor mans club where one of the rules was If any neighbour swears or curses, his neighbour may give him a kick upon the shins.



The House of Lords, based at the Three Herrings in Bell Yard - the more dissolute sort of barristers, attorneys and tradesmen.



The No-Nose Club (no further details).



The Farting Club, in Cripplegate, met once a Week to poyson the Neighbourhood, and with their Noisy Crepitations attempt to outfart one another.



The Surly Club, Billingsgate, where tradesmen met to sharpen the practice of contradiction and of foul language.



The Spit-farthing Club, Bishopsgate, composed of misers and skinflints.



The Club of Broken Shopkeepers, Southwark, for bankrupts.



The Mock Heroes Club, where each member would assume the name of a defunct hero.



The Lying Club, Westminster, where members were banned from uttering any true word.



The Man-Killing Club - membership barred to anyone who had not killed his man.



The Humdrum Club - gentlemen of peaceable dispositions, who were satisfied to meet at a tavern, smoke their pipes and say nothing till midnight.



The Everlasting Club - which sat in permanent session, twenty-four hours of every day, on a shift system, no person presuming to rise until he was relieved by his appointed successor.



There were various spouter clubs for people who fancied themselves as public speakers.



Chair clubs combined obscene songs and egalitarian speeches in equal measure.



Cock and hen clubs were for youths and prostitutes.



Source: London The Biography by Peter Ackroyd.