Reconnaissance weekend

The usual activity was had this weekend.

Mate's birthday party at the Angelic in Islington and then, would you believe, to the Islington Academy for Club Seal - cue much shambolic and embarrassing lurching on stage to tunes wot the kids are into. I should really act my age.
Mind you, I will be doing so shortly as my birthday is coming up in a couple of weeks.
Have been scoping out the gin palaces and beer-holes of London to locate a suitable venue.
Various places have been evaluated and discarded including a classical music bar and a converted church.
(This is what comes of having friends who might easily kick up a stink if the locale is too pricey / too cheap / too far / too near / too small / too big / too close to ley lines / too prone to terrorist attack, etc. etc. You know who you are...)

Saturday's fact-finding mission was to The Phœnix Artist Club, off the Charing Cross Road.
Interesting joint - this could be the one. Built into the old dressing rooms of the Phœnix Theatre, it's pretty old - but almost feels as if it were built in the sixties and made to look older, like a Harvester or something. It's members only after eight o'clock, we got there at seven, found a table with ease and had some food - good range, good prices.
We then sat there for seven hours, boozing. Who'd have thought the old man would have so much Pinot Grigio in him? For shame...
Topics covered included women, Stanley Baldwin and the 1922 Committee, the Amritsar Massacre, women, mass communication and its effects on foreign policy, the rise of religious extremism, Charles Dickens, fox-hunting, women, The Suicide by Nikolai Erdmans, the Gurkhas and does Michael Howard's Jewish heritage make him an ethnic minority leader. And women.

Aside - as a sop to all you Heat-lovers, I saw the mod bloke out of the Mighty Boosh. He was wearing red trousers and white pixie boots, so it was difficult not to.

The place was relatively unrammed til about midnight when hordes of the Equity mob trickled in. Much "mwah, mwah, darling!" etc. Nice people, though.
Spoke to one of the clearly knackered bar staff who said only members can reserve tables, membership is £120 a year but anyone can come in before eight and it's open 'til three.
Therefore owing to the time constraints, I would need a core group there from about six to gain table space.
This would require people who were either up for a boozing marathon or people who don't mind coming early because they are leaving early and can be relied upon to be there at a specified time. Daedalus or Icarus? Volunteers welcome.