On 15 November 2022, ITV's Political Editor, Robert Peston, tweeted about being refused entry to a private members' club in Central London for wearing 'comfortable mid-top trainers' and sparked fierce debate about the traditions and standards of London clubs as well as their influence on public life in 2022. 

In this special episode of the Mile End Institute Podcast - recorded earlier this Summer - Dr Seth Thévoz (a freelance historian and the foremost expert on 'Clubland') explores the fascinating story of the rise, decline, and resurgence of London's private members' clubs, from the late-eighteenth century to the present day. 

Reflecting on his latest book, Behind Closed Doors, Thévoz explains that, while clubs may have started out as white, male, aristocratic watering holes, all sections of society built their own clubs and lived their lives there: highbrow and lowbrow; women and men; working-class, middle-class and upper-class; international and British.