Blessed with a sumptuous view of the river Thames and the London Eye, lined with portraits of John Bright, Richard Cobden, William Ewart Gladstone and William Vernon Harcourt, and carefully watched over by a vast statue of Gladstone, the Dining Room provides an unforgettable dining experience, tended to by our professional team of staff. The menu blends traditional, signature club dishes such as Dover sole and Châteaubriand Vert Pré with innovative contemporary cuisine. Members and guests alike have found that dining at the National Liberal Club provides a memorable and enjoyable experience. Something echoed by many film companies and directors who have been captivated by the rarefied atmosphere of the room’s perfectly preserved Victorian features.
The heart of any club’s social life is its bar, and the NLC is no exception. Despite the grand dimensions of the main club rooms, the bar provides a cosy, intimate space for members to meet, facing one of the most dramatic views in London, overlooking the Thames and the London Eye.
The bar offers a varied selection of drinks, including a wine list hand-picked by our Wine Committee, and an innovative selection of cocktails by our award-winning barman, who was once praised by former US President George Bush Sr as making ‘The best martinis in the world’. Additionally, members may order a variety of snacks and inexpensive meals from the bar menu, which can also be enjoyed al fresco on the terrace.
One of the most dramatic rooms in the Club, the Smoking Room is not only gorgeous to contemplate, but remarkably versatile. Alfred Waterhouse’s supremely elegant room, framed by its tile columns, has two large, adaptable spaces at either end, one of which can accommodate wedding ceremonies or social events requiring a dance-floor. Bookcases separate the sides into alcoves where members can speak discretely or spend time reflecting quietly when the Club is not too busy. Well-stocked with daily papers and magazines, and lined with historic portraits, the NLC’s Smoking Room is surely the room Charles Kennedy had in mind when the late Liberal Democrat leader called the Club ‘an oasis of calm in the heart of Westminster‘.
Full afternoon tea is served here from 3:30pm to 5:30pm, along with other drinks and refreshments throughout the day.
The Club’s grand Entrance Hall fully displays the range of Alfred Waterhouse’s unique talent as one of the great architects of the nineteenth century, from the immaculate marble floor to the stunningly detailed ceiling.
It provides a stately entrance to the Club and is adorned with numerous distinctive works of art, including a group portrait of Gladstone’s first cabinet in 1868, a memorial to Club staff who died in both world wars, and a series of stained glass windows of four great Liberal statesmen of the nineteenth century.
Particularly notable is the portrait of the young Winston Churchill in 1915, as First Lord of the Admiralty, which was extensively restored after the club suffered a direct hit during a bombing raid in 1941. Churchill was a member of the club for eighteen years, and in 1943 he re-unveiled the restored portrait.
