A History of the Gentleman's Clubs of London

London's oldest gentlemen's club, White's, began life in Mayfair in 1693 as Mrs White's Chocolate House, founded by an Italian migrant, Francesco Bianco. It was a place where men could meet up, eat, drink and socialise – with a gambling room in the back. It became fashionable, and notorious for bad behaviour and massive gambling losses – Jonathan Swift called it the "bane of half the English nobility". In the late 18th century a series of similar institutions sprang up in St James's in the West End of London. Boodle's started up in a tavern in 1762, and was named after its head waiter. White's was for Tories, Brooks's was for Whigs, Boodle's for the country set. These clubs became known in the Georgian period for their atmosphere of aristocratic excess, says Seth Alexander Thévoz in his history Behind Closed Doors, and for "days-long around-the-clock gambling fuelled by port and laudanum".