The City Pickwick Club
26th January 2026George & Vulture, Lombard Street
With the greatest good fortune, I found myself invited by Past Master Charles Miller to dine at the City Pickwick Club, there to partake of a most agreeable evening of dinner, admirable speeches, wine of a quality beyond reproach, followed—according to venerable custom—by port and snuff in generous measure.
The Club assembles at the George and Vulture Tavern, in George Yard off Lombard Street, tucked away so deeply in the winding byways of the City that one might imagine it had been hiding there since Mr Pickwick himself last lost his way. The tavern has been restored with loving care to its ancient dignity; even the ceiling bears the darkened, tobacco-stained patina of countless convivial nights gone by.
Our host, Mr Samuel Pickwick—most ably embodied by Sir David Wootton—introduced the honoured guests with a humour so genial and well-judged that it set the tone for the evening at once. We were then treated to a most absorbing discourse by a Dickens scholar of medical training, who demonstrated, with equal learning and wit, how Dickens not only described but seemed almost to foresee diseases and afflictions unknown to the medical science of his day.
I was particularly pleased to find myself seated in such excellent company, beside Pickwick Club member Past Master Adam Bennett and fellow guest Past Master Andrew Golding, whose conversation was as stimulating as it was companionable.
At nine o’clock precisely, chairs were called—a decision marked by such civility and good sense that all present were able to make their way homeward in comfort, fortified in spirit and well content with an evening conducted in the very best Pickwickian tradition.