"DIE-HARDS" DYING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20174, 7 February 1929, Page 5

"DIE-HARDS" DYING.

In the gap which now separates tho Junior Carlton Club from neighbouring buildings in Pall Mall there will rise in the new year a spacious annexe where members of the club will be able,"for the first time, to entertain their women friends, with the full approval of the Club Committee, states a London writer. Tradition dies hard in the exclusive clubs of the West End; and the members of the Junior Carlton, while bowing to tho inevitable, have yet achieved a conditional surrender.

In other words, their decision to cater for women guests is tempered by restrictions.

The rule that no woman shall enter the portals of the club—except on .the occasion of political receptions—will continue to be enforced so far as the existing building is concerned. The present rule will also continue to apply that women can only be shown over the club at certain times. Only in the annexe will members have an opportunity of dining and talking with friends of the opposite sex. The scheme is being embarked upon largely to meet the desires of younger members of the club. These wishes are reflected in the up-to-date features which the extension will provide. They include :

A dining room, drawing room and lounge for tho entertainment of women visitors.

A swimming pool, 52ft. by 16ft., with shower baths.

Six bachelor flats, *ach comprising sitting room, bedroom and bathroom. Two squash courts of standard size, with shower baths and dressing rooms. It is estimated that the annexe will cost about £60,000. The swimming pool should prove a most popular innovation, since at the present time only about two West End clubs are so equipped. Women who visit the club annexe will enter by a door in St. James' Square, and the assurance was forthcoming that their coming and going will in no way disturb the peace and dignity of the old club.