THE DISTRICT CLUB
The bar at The District Club, rows of optics catching the light above polished brass fittings.

The Club

A tour of the rooms

The District Club occupies a handsome red-brick building on Clifton Drive South that has stood since 1876. For fifty years it was Kilgrimol School; since 1931 it has been our home.

A snooker table under its low lights, the cloth brushed and the balls set for the break.

The snooker room

The heart of the club after dark - full-size tables under warm lights, cues in the racks, and a scoreboard that has kept faith with the game for generations.

Members of The District Club in the lounge of an evening, one seated in a checked jumper reading a newspaper.

An evening in the lounge.

The bar and lounge

Optics along the back wall, a good pint, and the kind of company that makes an evening pass quickly. The lounge is where most first visits begin.

Looking into the Kilgrimol Room through its reinstated glass-panelled doors: bay window, deep red curtains, chesterfield and card tables.
Through the reinstated doors of the Kilgrimol Room.

The Kilgrimol Room

The club's quiet room takes its name from the lost settlement of Kilgrimol, and from the school that stood here before us. Its original glass-panelled doors were reinstated in 2025. Les Dawson's famously ornate chair sits in the corner - members are welcome to try it.

The bowling green from beneath a mature tree, the white clubhouse rising behind the far edge on a bright summer day.

The bowling green

The green sits behind the clubhouse and comes into its own from spring to autumn. Five teams play out of it across the summer months.

The members' book exchange with framed photographs of past members on the wall behind it.

The book exchange

Take one, leave one - a small corner of the club with framed photographs of past members watching over the shelves.

A room in the club with a brass door plate bearing the name Drummond above the frame.

The Drummond Room

The Drummond Room takes its name from David Drummond - twice President of the club, in 1988–89 and again in 1990–91, and an Honorary Life Member. Read about the plates around the club.

Guests

Members may sign in guests, and each guest is welcome up to six times in any twelve-month period.

Did you know

No member may introduce the same guest to the District Club more than six times in any period of twelve months.

Upstairs

The first floor of the club has been home to the Ladies Bridge Club for more than seventy years - a long and happy arrangement, and a reminder that the District Club has never been quite as closed a world as its name suggests. The arrangement is as old as the building's life as a club - the Express reported in 1931 that the first floor would be used as a ladies' club. Read the article.

Did you know

The upstairs rooms of the District Club have been home to the Ladies Bridge Club for more than seventy years.

DC CouncilPast Presidents