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YOUR LETTERS
Send letters to: The Editor, Pell Mell & Woodcote, 89 Pall Mall, London SW1Y 5HS,
or email pellmell@royalautomobileclub.co.uk
DRESSED FOR SUCCESS
I totally agree with Charles
Skinner and Mike Bowen in the
last issue of PM&W; a slackening
of dress standards would
inevitably lead to a slackening of
standards of conduct. Everywhere
one looks there is evidence that
where standards are not enforced
they are more and more
disregarded with less than
agreeable results.
One of the joys of the Club is
the civilised environment and one
must question as to whether it is
such an unreasonable
requirement for members to
observe the standards that over a
considerable number of years have
in part enticed many to join and
many to continue their
membership of the Club. Perhaps
the staff could take more active
steps where there are breaches.
C.L. Clemo
GOLD STAR
With reference to the results of
the members’ survey conducted
last year, it may be useful to have
the opinion of a new member to
the Club. Before joining last July I
had been a member of 13 other
clubs (11 of them golf clubs) in six
different countries and naturally
feel I am in a good position to
make a comparison. In terms of
the variety and quality of facilities
offered and value-for-money the
Club is definitely at the top of my
list. The purpose of a club is to
12 | April 2012 | Issue 138
provide sporting or other facilities
so that members can meet and
interact with like-minded people
in a pleasant environment. It
seems to me that the Royal
Automobile Club fulfils its raison
d’être very well. Of course the
dress regulations are a bit of a
minefield for a new member, and
necessitated me buying additional
golfing shorts, but I feel they are in
keeping with the high standards of
a prestigious club like the Royal
Automobile Club. Also I don’t get
the impression that the staff are
overly officious in this respect – no
‘dress regulation police’ in the
Royal Automobile Club!
Peter Kenyon-Muir
SUNDAY LUNCH BLUES
Whilst passing through London I
decided to try the Club Sunday
lunch with two invited guests. We
arranged to meet in the Long Bar.
I arrived shortly after noon and
went down to the Long Bar to find
that this was shuttered with
various members using the bar as
a makeshift gym. Back upstairs I
was advised that the Cocktail Bar
was also closed and the only bar
available for pre lunch drinks was
the bar in the Brooklands Room.
An attempt to order draught beer
was rebuffed with only bottled
beer being available in the
Brooklands Room.
I would have thought that the
Club could have pre-advised
members as to this situation on
Sunday lunchtimes? At the Great
Gallery the pleasure of our
Sunday lunch was lessened due to
the non-availability of any
‘medium rare’ cuts of the excellent
Scottish beef, despite the best
efforts of the Maitre D.
Alastair Foulkes
WHAT WOULD LYNDA SNELL
SAY. . ?
May I add my support for the
views so well expressed by John
Kay in his letter (PM&W January
2012). Since joining the Club
some years ago, I have attended
the Christmas carols event with a
small party and have always seen
it as a welcome and appropriate
entry into the festive season. As a
member, I was quietly proud of the
way the Club’s architectural
qualities formed the perfect
setting for familiar carols well
sung by the choir of the
neighbouring church of St
Martin-in-the-Fields.
Instead, this year, we were
offered a rather tawdry sing-along
with a variety of turns more
appropriate to the village hall in
Ambridge. I trust that by next
year, sense will be restored and
tradition re-established without
any further tinkering.
Bryan Jefferson
ALL’S FAIR IN LOVE AND
SQUASH COURT BOOKING
I am without doubt that squash
bookings at Pall Mall are one of