By Elliott West
“Badly-authenticated reports have reached us that Robert Louis Stevenson took the game with him to Samoa, and Howard (Tutankhamun) Carter to Egypt: I introduced it to Kathmandu on the slightly warped small table in the British Embassy club, and was soundly beaten in three out of three frames by a distinguished Nepali poet, and two out of three by a man in the British Council, neither of whom had played before. Our standards are not high”.
Stephen Potter, BBC.
Introduction
In the heart of Central London, located in Mayfair, is the Savile Club. A private club with a difference. Somewhere where membership is not based on what you do in life but by who he is than by what kind of a person he is as a man, and whether he will fit congenially into the “Sodalitas” of the club. However strict membership rules still apply. The club itself was established in 1868, first located in several rooms in the Medical Club in Spring Gardens just off Trafalgar Square, originally called ‘The New Club’. So popular and successful was this club that the membership grew to a level that a new home had to be found.
Moving to Saville Row, this was when the club’s name changed, taking its current name from its location. The club would move again 11 years later to Piccadilly before moving to its final abode of Mayfair in 1927. Now located at 69 Brook Street, this building became a literary magnet, attracting many of the greats including Robert Louis Stevenson, Thomas Hardy, HG Wells, Rudyard Kipling and WB Yeats. Music was also represented with Arthur Bliss and Edward Elgar attending.
Broadcast News
With the expansion of the club, came an influx of radio journalists from the nearby Broadcasting House. These would be followed by filmmakers, scriptwriters and television producers. However, one little-known fact is this is where a different version of snooker was played. Aptly called Savile, this game dates back to the club’s early period of the 1900s. A game that is noisy, irrelevant and fun, played on the club’s 1860s billiard table.
“It was Robert Louis Stevenson who famously observed to another member the connection between a proficiency at Snooker and a misspent youth, and Stevenson was a keen player of the game to the Club’s own rules. Savile Snooker was designed to enliven the game and permits out-of-sequence potting of the coloured balls, with a penalty attached for failure, of course. It is said that there is still a strong tradition of playing a very similar game in Samoa, where of course Stevenson settled”.
The Savile Club
Of course, the traditional game of snooker is also played here and billiards too. In fact, the club recently entered the London Clubs Snooker Competition sponsored by Johnny Walker Black Label whisky and has its own Savile competition annually. The club even has its own set of antique ivory balls which members can request to play with. The Potter billiards and snooker room is usually a hive of activity on a Tuesday afternoon and evening when most of the regulars attend. You even used to be able to accompany your game with tea and toast but sadly this was stopped a decade ago due to decling demand.
Afterthoughts
This is probably one of the last working bastions of a bygone age, which some may call elitist but slightly more relaxed with membership rules. A club where in recent years Stephen Fry has become a member but only recently accepted its first female member after being only a men-only club for over 150 years. Definitely, for me, the fascination of this club is its unique game of snooker called Savile where the colours are played out of sequence in a 1900s fashion. A club where copious amounts of brandy, port and fine wines are consumed accompanied by the strong smell of the finest cigar smoke.
