22 - Pall Mall and St. James

Abstract

This chapter discusses that it is assumed that those who need to know do know where to find the Reform Club, one of the famous London clubs clustered around Pall Mall and St. James; the very same Reform Club which served Jules Verne's famous English gentleman Phileas Fogg as the point of departure and return for his famous journey around the world in 80 days. The hall of the Reform Club, surrounded by a two-tiered colonnade, and crowned by a glass dome, is truly palatial. It has silk-covered walls, dark gold Corinthian columns, and a marble mosaic floor. The very name of the Reform Club is an embodiment of revolt against Conservatism. It is becoming increasingly difficult to pay for the upkeep of premises and to employ a full labor force. Yet to put up the fees means to lose members and that leads in turn to further increases in membership fees, and further loss of numbers. As one of the Pall Mall managers said, clubs nowadays have to spend more, at the same time as members are trying to spend less.