NIGHT CLUBS OF LONDON.

North Otago Times, 22 May 1909, Page 4 (Supplement)

NIGHT CLUBS OF LONDON.

—r • I AN ACTUAL EXPERIENCE. | The night clubs of London arc not j what they used to be. Perhaps the | metropolis is reforming and going to j bed earlier; perhaps-and this seems ! the more likely suggestion—the |o- j lice are more on the alert. But! whatever the cause, the fact remains j that a once famous feature of Lon- j don life is disappearing fast, and I nowadays the only resorts of this , kind still' left are some uncleanly dens in the heart of Loudon, run by I that class of Continental visitor for whoso especial benefit the Aliens Act was devised. ' j CLUBS ALL ALIKE. There is a curious similarity in all these places. The windows are closely shuttered; not a gleam 'of light is visible from the squalid street, which, even in the small hours of the morning, seems to smell of garlic and Dagoes, You knock at the door, and a moment later the porter, a big, burly ruflian who in simpler, less-si|ucamish days would have been chained to an oar in a galley, is scrutinising you through a little grille. If you can produce a member's card no questions will be asked. You will just pay sixpence for a "visitor's" ticket and go in "to wait for your friend." If, on the other hand, you are n complete stranger, the porter will call the secretary, an evil little foreigner, with " absinthe" written unmistakably across his sallow, greenish face, and a consultation will be held. They know all the police, that being an essential part of their business, and they soon decide that you arc harmless.

THE PICK OF LONDON RASCALITY. The entrance hall is usually narrow—a wise precaution when police raids arc an ever-present danger—and at the end of it is the bar,where men and women, in about equal proportions, are laughing and chattering and drinking weird mixtures, the very names of many of which would be unknown to the British barman. There are forgers, blackmailers, negotiators of stolen bonds, and wholesale counterfeit coin merchants; all the pick of London's imported rascality, who find in these night clubs excellent meeting-places, .where they can plot new villainies. If, however, you expect to see Anarchists or Ninilists, or even burglars and housebreakers there, you will be disappointed. The club is essentially intellectual; the members use their brains, and abhor physical force, unless it take the form of a perfectly safe stab in the dark from behind, IN THE DANCING-ROOM. Beyond the bar is the dancingroom, with a little stage at one end and marble-topped tables and seats along the sides. You drink and smoke everywhere in that club, men and women alike. On the stage three uncleanly musicians are playing 1 very fast. The •members dance vigorously, weird measures which

would be wholly scandalising anywhere else, but which, somehow, suit the place. Upstairs, there is a cardroom ; but you will not be allowed to enter there unless someone can vouch for you personally. THE DENIZENS OF THE CLUBS. Of course, all the people you see in that club are not necessarily criminals. Some arc almost respectable, according to their standards, whilst there arc sure to be others who, like yourself, have gone in out of curiosity. Then, too, you will come across youngsters, often in evening dress, who are out on what they imagine to be a spree, little thinking that they are doing their test to get into the hands of the wily foreign blackmailer, who will scrutinise the visitors' book, and, if he finds they have given their real names, follow up the clue until, in some way or another, he gets his grip on them ?—"Cassell's Saturday Journal." |