A very gallant gentleman. Picture in public domain due to age from Wikipedia. Notice the figure is hunched over, leaving footsteps in the snow. In the distance is a triangular tent.
Hard Rock Cafe. London. England. UK. Photo by Angela Lansbury.
If you visit London and see Traflagar Square or Hyde Park Corner you can go to Hyde Park Corner where you can visit or pass Hard Rock Cafe, pantings on the railings, Green Park, plaques to historic people and events, the Sheraton Grand art deco hotel, the Athenaeum hotel, and private and mysterious buildings such as the RAF club, and the Cavalry & Guards Club.
In 202, 1 visited the Cavalry and Guards Club and discovered many surprising features, from a painting of Camilla, without Prince Charles, to a painting of Oates, who supposedly said to Scott of the Antarctic, 'I may be gone some time'.
You pass the entrance to the Cavalry and Guards Club near Hard Rock cafe at the Hyde Park Corner end of Piccadilly, towards Marble Arch, and Buckingham Palace.
The club has been in existence a long time. Queen Victoria's son, the future King Edward, was a frequent visitor.
As you walk along from Green Park station you pass a plaque about the recording of His Master's voice, and other notable buildings and markers. Pass the entrance to the Japanese embassy, a school, and a grand car show room. You see flags, dates, and window boxes full of flowers. If you wish to go there, read on, and if you have no hope of going there, read on, because I will give you an inside view of what the passers-by outside are missing.
Wine Events In London
I was attending a wine and dine event organized by my husband who is a wine educator. I have taken only level 1, involving about 20 hours of study, reading through the manual of several chapters, and self testing, followed by an all day course including tastings, ending with a multi-part test which is sent off to be marked independently not by your teacher but elsewhere. My husband started at the next level, level 2. He has the WSET (Wine and Spirit Education Trust) levels 2 and 3, the Diploma, which takes about two years.
He also passed a demonstration to a club attended by a professional association which marks you. The marks are not only on the knowledge you impart about the wines you choose to serve. You will fail if you serve on off wine, having failed to decant it and test it before serving to the ten to one hundred guests!
If you attend any wine course, levels one, two, three, and diploma, you are likely to meet either the course convener or people attending who know about wine tastings and wine and dine clubs, or are interested in starting one, either as a business or as fun, with your suggestions or assistance.
We are frequent attenders at half a dozen different wine groups in London, England, and 'the home counties', surrounding areas.
Club Venues
One of the wine and dine groups meets at the Civil Service club. This is conveniently near Traflagar Square station. The club has modestly priced meals. A friend of mine from both the Harrow Writers' circle and a London Toastmasters International club is a member. Through a meeting there, we met a member of the Cavalry & Guards club.
The Double Bridal Room and Weddings
My husband organized the menu and matching wines for the lunch at the Cavalry & Guards Club. They provided the glasses and ice. And their chef offered a choice of menus. The event was held in the double bridal room. If you are thinking of organizing a wedding or anniversary dinner, you might choose to hire a room in a club.
Look For Reciprocal Club Memberships
How do you get an entry? If you or a family member or a colleague, or your boss, belong to any club such as a golf club, cricket club, tennis club, civil service club, press (journalists') club, it probably has reciprocal arrangements with clubs worldwide. After the event which I attended, I discovered that the Calry and Guards Club in London had reciprocal arrangements with the Tanglin Club in Singapore, as well as clubs in the USA, Australia, New Zealand and all over the world.
How to Find the List of Reciprocal Clubs
You have to hunt around to find the list of reciprocal clubs. Open every page of the website, however irrelevant and unlikely. When I clicked on the bookings page for the Cavalry & Guards Club, it said that if you are not a member, but a member of a reciprocal club, state which one. Click on the arrow and a pop-up lists all the reciprocal clubs worldwide. Up pops the Tanglin Club, Singapore, of which a member of my family is a club member. You do need to allow time to get a letter of introduction from your club. So you either go into the office, or write to them with your membership number.
How To Remember Your Club Membership Number
Where is your membership number? On your membership card. If you left it overseas, next time, photograph it, or note the number in your diary. If you don't have a record of your membership number, look for it is on a letter, the club newsletter's envelope addressed to you, or any email from your club.)
Now, let us walk into the club and learn more.
Cavalry & Horses
The Cavalry and Guards club merged two clubs. The cavalry were the soldiers on horseback, before the invention of the motor car.
Paintings of Horses
Once you have passed the club vestibule, where your reasons for being at the club are checked, you are in the grand entrance hall - surrounded by pictures of horses. See single horses, and groups of horses. Check the horses and cavalry men in fine uniforms and tall, elaborate hats. The soldiers are on horseback, or standing beside horses. VIP commanders are shaking hands - beside their horses. Horses, horses, horses! If you like horses you are in heaven, horse heaven.
How To Hire A Room For A Lunch Or Wedding
The building had a grand staircase, disappearing up several levels to the sunlit ceiling. The staircase itself is lined with umpteen paintings of horses and famous people.
How Do You Get Inside?
I was lucky to see inside because my husband had hired one of the eleven private rooms for a wine and dine event with the wines paired to each course. We had booked with the aid of an old friend from our wine and dine group. The member (J) of the C & G club attended the lunch. He revealed that far from imposing on him, we had done him a favour, because if he introduces one hundred paying guests to the restaurants and private dining rooms he receives kudos (and maybe something else, a discount?, he did not say). That revelation was great news, which added to the general jollity, because instead of feeling indebted and awkward, like uninvited guests and gatecrashers, we were delighted to learn that he was as happy to see us as we were to see him. Also the club management, far from regarding us as interlopers, was glad to have our business, so long as we were introduced by a member who knew us well.
Arrive Early Like Nelson
We had arrived early. Like Nelson, who said he always arrived half an hour early. Nelson stands on his column in Trafalgar Square which commemorates his victory at Trafalgar, where he died. His sidekick Hardy had advised him before the battle to take off his uniform which made him a target. He declined to do so, and was hit by a sniper.
We were early. This spare time allowed me time to look at the two main dining rooms on the first and second floors. (Americans say 2nd and 3rd, because to Americans ground floor is level one. But in England you count ground floor, then upstairs one level is first floor.) The dining room windows overlook Piccadilly.
The Ground Floor Bar
The ground floor bar has a room at the back open to the sky, with a wall of greenery and a large sunshade. A place to gather before the meeting or lunch. You can also continue your lunchtime chats here.
The Dining Rooms
The two large dining rooms have windows overlooking Pall Mall. You can look down on the open top buses which tourists can ride on, during a fine day. I passed the machine where tickets are sold at the bus stop near the Cavalry and guards Club entrance.
Useful Websites
Timing and route between Hyde Park Corner and Trafalgar Square
https://www.rome2rio.com/s/Trafalgar-Square/Hyde-Park-Greater-London-England
hard Rock Cafe, corner of Oxford Street and Park Lane, London
https://www.hardrockcafe.com/location/oxford/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Oates
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