The return of free drinks - City of London Club, Old Broad Street

Client entertainment, jollies, freebies or however you describe it, comes in many forms. In London you can up attend a fancy dress party and get drunk.   Or you can prepare a meal Hells Kitchen style and get drunk. Go ten pin bowling in funky Brick Lane and get drunk. Watch a major football or rugby game and get drunk. Take part, or witness a five aside Penalty Shoot Out competition with a former England goalkeeper and get drunk. Do you detect a theme here? 

The successful events manage to subtly sell a brand, product or service to clients while proving to be memorable social occasions. But of course not all of them work. I once worked for a FTSE 100 corporate where I had the misfortune to witness four very middle-aged senior managers complete with spreading bellies attempt a dance routine to Will Smith's Men in Black. While clad in black polos and wraparound Ray Bans. In legendary London night club Fabric. It was at best a little odd and at worst, very confusing. Oh, and it was very, very embarrassing. 

The credit crunch has put an end to most corporate gigs in the City, so it was with pleasure that I accepted an invitation to celebrate the first birthday of a fledgling consulting firm, at the esteemed, and very stuffy City of London Club on Old Broad Street. 

The City of London Club is a 19th century building sat in the heart of the financial district which with its grand but subtle exterior in stark contrast to its rather faded and tired interiors seems intent on depicting a nation living on past glories.  This theme continues inside the building where busts,  statues and pictures celebrate the great and good of Old Britannia, but are noticeably absent of anyone who has achieved anything since World War II. The party, if you can describe a gathering of mostly male, middle-aged, grey suited city workers as that, was relatively festive as though people had not enjoyed a free drink for a long time. 

However as a venue the club works very well. The hosting and service are not the slightest bit stuffy as you might expect but in fact very homely and welcoming. The wine which was very good was poured both generously and frequently. The canapes were delicious and abundant. And the place was buzzing as guests began to  size each other up as a potential buyers or employers, or both. There was also something wonderfully English about quaffing a glorious Bordeaux and chatting about the end of the banking system, while under the shadow of a huge, dare I say over-sized, portrait of Lord Nelson, with the Ting Tings playing on the sound system. Only in London. 

The City Club is certainly no Shoreditch House, and has more in common with the Groucho Club in style and ambience, then its East London peers. (I know Groucho Club regulars will rightly be aggrieved at that comparison, but I have very few members clubs to compare to). But the interior shoddiness somehow makes it more human and more accessible then the anomalies in Mayfair and therefore is to be recommended. Well the next time your suppliers have money to spend that is.