Dress rules have relaxed a lot and the staff are generally a bit more pragmatic. In the cloakroom on the ground floor there is a wardrobe full of coats and ties to suit most styles – needed only for the Dining Room and Cowdray lounge now.
I have been a member for the length of my soon-to-finish RAF career and have seen the club improve constantly over the years. I took my foreign staff college syndicate and their wives for High Tea in the Cowdray Longue last year and they loved it - three-tiered cake stands, silver tea pots, the paintings of Messerschmitts being shot down - the works. And quite affordable, too.
During my 2 previous tours in Town I visited a number of other clubs in both professional capacity and by private invitation. Some, like the RAC are grander, others like the National Liberal Club are quirky (closed on weekends and smells of wee), In and Out has a nice courtyard and pool but haunted by military 'walts', and the Reform is stuffy and very expensive to maintain membership. The bedrooms of the RAF Club are generally a lot better than most other clubs too, I understand.
However one gripe I do have is the increasing cost of the rooms. I get back to London on duty fairly regularly and try to stay at the club - however two things militate this. Firstly rooms can be hard to come by, and secondly, when I try to book via DHRS the cost of the room only (they don't do a B&B rate) exceeds the Night Subsistence rate and thus I either have to get my 'budget manager' (in another country) to approve the uplift - no chance - or fork the difference out of my pocket. With the drastic cut in our pay and allowances, I can’t afford that so I end up staying at a Travelodge or similar, rather that supporting my Club.
There used to be a 'Serving in London on Duty' rate but that was dropped a few years back. I encourage the management to revise the rules and at least get some Serving members staying at the public expense, rather than lining the pockets of some multinational firm.
Secondly, there is a provision in the rules for Members of other London clubs to use our facilities and to book rooms when their clubs are booked out or closed. The result is that there have been some extremely odd characters with no Club connections (=RAF connections) using the Business suite and library, as well as booking rooms - to the detriment of RAF Club members attempting to stay there. The RAF Club has more bedrooms than most London Clubs (92), so it tends to be the default setting when the Clubs in Pall Mall (with an average of 40 rooms) are booked out. Perhaps this might be improving the cash-flow but I fear that this reciprocal arrangement is not reciprocated. On one occasion when I tried to book at the club (and it was full) I asked which other clubs in London I could use. The staff member didn’t seem to know. I rang several clubs that I was familiar with and they weren’t aware of the reciprocal ‘deal’ and I ended up staying at an Ibis Hotel near Aldgate. Yeurrch!
I have used both the Union Jack and the Victory Services Club. Both are excellent and affordable for accommodation – especially when using the UJC car park. The VSC is undergoing an extensive refurbishment programme at the moment and offers a very good PODL deal. We also held several offsites at both locations - UJC was considerably cheaper and the faciliteis were better. However I would not use them to entertain guests as they lack the lack the granduer of the RAF Club and the obvious RAF connections, although the bar at the VSC is rather chic (pity about the emblazered ex SNCO clientele who are glued to the bar!). Ooh, look at you!
Finally, Fred is a living national treasure. He always remembers me and asks after the family (we’ve stayed in the excellent family rooms when we’ve staged through London in the past). He’d be at least a Colonel in the KGB/SVR based on his knowledge of the RAF personnel ORBAT…