The Clifton Club
Coordinates: 51°27′20″N 2°37′15″W / 51.4555°N 2.6209°W
The Clifton Club is a traditional private member's club in Bristol, England, founded in 1818 as a meeting place for the gentlemen of the prosperous port of Bristol.
The club was founded in Clifton, an exclusive suburb of Bristol, in 1818 by a host of local gentlemen. It is therefore one of the earliest remaining such clubs in the country: only Brooks's, White's, Boodle's, the Royal Thames Yacht Club, Marylebone Cricket Club, and the Liverpool Athenaeum are older. In a curious coincidence, the meeting held to discuss the club's founding was held in what was then the Clifton Hotel – which subsequently became the club's current home. The club originally had premises in Birdcage Walk. After several years the club's use had dwindled and the decision was taken to disband. In 1850 several of the members of the original club resurrected the club at new premises.
Records of the Clifton Club are held at Bristol Archives (Ref. 35716) (online catalogue).
The Clifton Club has for over 190 years been one of the most socially exclusive organisations in Bristol. Membership must be gained on the invitation and recommendation of at least two members of good standing who have each known the candidate for at least three years. Historically the club's membership has included the heads of major Bristol business, local landed gentry, and the higher echelons of the professions. The club has a long and well documented link with the Society of Merchant Venturers; to this day many members of the society are also members of the Clifton Club. Other Bristol institutions whose memberships overlap with that of the club include the Bristol Savages and the Antient Society of St Stephen's Ringers.
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