The changing shape of the Clubs

"The institution of clubs took roots in the Subcontinent with the advent of the British Raj. Starting from Calcutta, which became the first imperial outpost and the capital, was launched the once most exclusive Royal Bengal Club. It was the forerunner of many such clubs and almost every major town in due course could boast of a Gymkhana Club. These were essentially meant to be social hubs and watering holes exclusively for the locally posted British officers, their visitors and their families. Gradually however some selected local elite and Indian officers too were allowed to become members of these largely European clubs.

The City of Lahore was not to lag behind in this great tradition. Like a British owned and British edited local newspaper, the Civil and Military Gazette, in other metropolitan cities, it created some highly exclusive, European-only clubs. The Punjab Club and Lahore Gymkhana were the first to surface, followed by others as years rolled by. Gymkhana Club, started somewhere in Mian…