After Dark Notes · 10 notes

After Dark Notes: the Society's field guide to W1 once the lamps come on

Berkeley Square after midnight is the quietest place in W1. The clubs have closed their doors, the plane trees hold the lamplight, and the drivers in the mews have finally gone home. It is also the hour at which most of the Society's evenings are remembered, and the reason these notes exist. Guests write to Cressida at every hour with the same kind of question, seldom about companionship and nearly always about place: which lobby is calm at nine, which table is worth asking for, which month puts grouse on the menu. After Dark Notes are her answers, written down.

They are arranged by the questions themselves. Where to stay, from the hotels of Grosvenor Square to the club floors of Park Lane. Where to dine, from the tables a few doors from Annabel's to the long, unhurried dinner that fills three hours without a single glance at a watch. Where to go afterwards, whether that means a second venue for a digestif, a suite opened to friends at midnight or a members' club where you hold the invitation. And when to come, because London keeps a calendar of seasons, game and occasions that rewards anyone who plans by it.

The ground covered is small and easily walked. Berkeley Square sits at its centre; around it runs the rest of Mayfair, from Mount Street to Shepherd Market; Piccadilly marks the southern edge, with St James's just beyond. Every hotel, restaurant and club mentioned was chosen by Cressida for its manners and appears purely as an address. The Society has no commercial tie to any of them, and their prices and hours are not ours to publish.

Ours are. The Society's own figures, from £600 for an hour, are stated a single time on the rates page. The roster introduces the companions, Bookings by Occasion describes each kind of evening, and one message, explained on the booking page, turns a note into an arrangement.