Overview
The Naval and Military Club, known informally as The In & Out, is a private members' club located in St James's Square, London. It was founded in 1862 for officers of the Navy and Army. It now also accepts female members, and members who have not served in the armed forces, but continues to observe service traditions.
Origins
The Club was founded in 1862 by six officers, chiefly from the Buffs, because the three then existing military clubs in London – the United Service, the Junior United Service, and the Army and Navy – were all full.
Premises
The Club was formerly based at Cambridge House at 94 Piccadilly, opposite Green Park. It came to be known as "The In & Out" from the prominent signs on the building's separate vehicle entrance and exit gates. This building was bombed by the Provisional IRA on 11 December 1974. A bomb was thrown into the famous long bar of the club; one steward was injured in the blast, the only casualty of the attack.
In 1996, the club purchased its current premises at 4 St James's Square, designed by Edward Shepherd in 1679 for Anthony Grey, 11th Earl of Kent and the former London home of Waldorf and Nancy Astor from 1912 to 1942. After a programme of refurbishment the club took up occupancy on 1 February 1999. To perpetuate its traditional nickname, the words "In" and "Out" were painted on the two flanking columns of the portico of the house.
From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).