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National Liberal Club, London

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Cask Ale not available
Operator: National Liberal Club
1 Whitehall Place, Whitehall, London, SW1A 2HE (View on Google Map)

This is a club, which means that the bar may be only open to members.

The club bar serves several keg beers, and its range of bottled beers includes Young's London (or Kew) Gold bottle conditioned and brewed by Marston's at the Eagle Brewery Bedford.

The gentlemen's washroom facilities have to be the most magnificent in London!

The upper (bedroom) and lower floors were sold off to the Royal Horseguards Hotel next door in the early 1980s following a growing financial crisis and long-term decline. The proceeds funded a substantial and impressive restoration of the main club rooms - library, bar and dining room, function rooms, and more. Members get discounted accommodation rates at the hotel (separate entrance).

Past members have included such political luminaries as Asquith, Churchill, Lloyd Gerge & Ramsay Macdonald, plus literary figures such as G.B.Shaw, H.G.Wells, Bram Stoker of Dracula fame, and Dylan Thomas.

Membership is nowadays wider than just the Liberal party though members are required not to undertake anti-Liberal political activity. The NLC was the first London club to admit women as full members.

The dining room and its terrace overlook the Thames and of a sunny summer's evening this is a very pleasant place in which to drink and dine.

The club is closed at weekends except for private hire. It is often in fact then very busy, the ornate 19th-century interior attracting film and TV period dramas such as Downton Abbey and The Crown.

Historic Interest

Grade II* listed, Historic England ref 1066072. The club was founded in 1882 with Gladstone as its first President. The clubhouse was built to designs by Alfred Waterhouse 1884-1887. At that time it was the largest clubhouse ever built and also the first to be lit be electricity and the first building in the capital to incorporate a lift. There is lavish use of patterned faience in the clubrooms. The main staircase was destroyed by an enemy bomb in May 1941 but was beautifully reconstructed in 1950-51 by Clyde Young and Engle as a marble cantilevered oval staircase. The club's wine cellar is a recycled trench originally dug in 1865 for the world's first pneumatic tube railway, quickly abandoned.

Information for this venue is provided by the West London Branch of CAMRA
Previous Names
Local Authority
Westminster
Last updated
11/06/2024
Last surveyed
14/05/2018
Leasehold owner
The National Liberal Club Ltd
Freehold owner
Crown Estate
Pub ID
WLD/17131
Asset of Community Value
Saturday
Closed
Sunday
Closed
Monday
8:00am - 11:30pm
Tuesday
8:00am - 11:30pm
Wednesday
8:00am - 11:30pm
Thursday
8:00am - 11:30pm
Friday
8:00am - 11:30pm
Saturday
No Service
Sunday
No Service
Monday
12:30pm - 2:00pm & 6:30pm - 9:30pm
Tuesday
12:30pm - 2:00pm & 6:30pm - 9:30pm
Wednesday
12:30pm - 2:00pm & 6:30pm - 9:30pm
Thursday
12:30pm - 2:00pm & 6:30pm - 9:30pm
Friday
12:30pm - 2:00pm & 6:30pm - 9:30pm

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Facilities
Lunchtime Meals Lunchtime Meals
Evening Meals Evening Meals
Garden Garden
Terrace overlooks Embankment Gardens, the Thames, County Hall, and the London Eye
Function Room Function Room
Newspapers Newspapers
Restaurant Restaurant
Afternoon tea is served between 3.30pm and 5.30pm in the (non smoking) Smoking Room and in the Summer months on the Terrace
Separate Bar Separate Bar
Smoking Smoking
Terrace
Wi Fi Wi Fi
Features
Transport
Close to bus routes (250m)
TfL: 6
Bus stops in Strand
Nearby Station (250m)
London Charing Cross
Close to London Underground/Overground/DLR (150m)
Embankment

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