'Another partygoer conjured the memory of Benjamin Butterworth, Twitter fabulist and GB News presenter, holding a private event at the Groucho in 2023. The club – once a lodestar for a meritocratic Albion promised by New Labour – has become decidedly Tory in energy.' the-fence.com/dean-street-...

Issue 27 is getting it right in Malaga

We hear that Wes Streeting was a Groucho habitué until relatively recently... the-fence.com/dean-street-...

I see.

I can only remember going in there once, back when it was trendy. Some drunken thesp (who’d been in ‘Scum’ but not much else) called my Bajan friend a ‘spear chucker’. So I’m not remotely bothered if it fails.

'Has the Groucho committed the ultimate sin, and become uncool? The writer Cosmo Landesman is typically forthright about why he quit his decades-long membership of The Groucho Club. ‘I was in there one night and there was no one I wanted to have sex with or engage in conversation.’

In front of the paywall for only a short while longer

'Another partygoer conjured the memory of Benjamin Butterworth, Twitter fabulist and GB News presenter, holding a private event at the Groucho in 2023. The club – once a lodestar for a meritocratic Albion promised by New Labour – has become decidedly Tory in energy.'

'Just as cocaine use became increasingly normalised across the country – openly snorted in pubs and football grounds – an honest toot at the Groucho, British High Society’s Gakky Ground Zero, became an effective impossibility.'

I only went to the Groucho once, about 1988, and thought I'd arrived. I remember our whole party was ejected but I (honestly) can't remember why. It wasn't anything I did, I'm sure.

Ugh this is so brilliant i wish i'd commissioned it. What went wrong for the Groucho? (Apart from everything) the-fence.com/dean-street-...

I was very excited about The Groucho snapping up Breton Hall, which has been falling into ruin for years, and wrote it up for Off the Fence. But nothing has happened there, and this brilliant piece of reporting begins to explain why.

'As with anything iconic, The Groucho Club’s death has been foretold nearly as long as it’s been open. But is the Dean Street grand dame finally on her last legs?' Fonie Mitsopoulou investigates the-fence.com/dean-street-...

Is Otto's London's Most Vulgar Restaurant? We discuss this and more in the latest Capital Letter. thefencecapitalletter.substack.com

Reading THE FENCE @thefence.bsky.social is a reminder that print (and the press) is not dead. Hard-hitting stories, powerful writing and a lot of laughs: the-fence.com/rumours-of-o...

Or The Fence, the UK's Only Magazine, starting from just £29.99 for the year. the-fence.com/shop/

Issue 27 goes meta in Vietnam

Now we need YOUR entries. Has to be constructed in the last two years, and in Britain too. Write them in below or send them to [email protected]

The Carbuncle Cup is back, and we need your nominations for the worst new building in Britain. Either send your entries here, or to [email protected]

Issue 27 is off to see the Goyas

Issue 27 is flying over vast snowy plains

Do You Want to Fall in Love? Maybe Meet Someone Special? A Quarterly Print Mag Is Here 4 U

Today is publication day for my book, Prestige Drama. It's a funny, angry book about Derry, memory and Troubles-scented television. I think it's quite good, however I can *confirm* that it's quite short. But don't take my word for how great it is, look at all these lovely people saying that.

Since the start of the millennium Britain has found new and exquisite ways to humiliate herself. Here, in order, are the most embarrassing moments. the-fence.com/our-cringe-c...

New from me, featuring Dennis Potter, Fyodor Dostoevsky, @thefence.bsky.social and Ruby Flipper open.substack.com/pub/bowiegod...

@nowvoyagermagazine.bsky.social is the most exciting new print launch in years, with extraordinarily deep reportage, as vividly seen with the article below. Do give them a follow or even better buy the magazine!

Issue 27 is in Milano

Issue 27 is nonce-adjacent at WH Smith King's Cross

Cats love The Fence

It's the column that everyone is talking about, courtesy of @heawood.bsky.social. the-fence.com/how-do-you-k...

Issue 27 is positively regal in Soho

A truly astonishing short story by Tim MacGabhann, set in Dublin and concerning the success of a Millennial Irish novelist. the-fence.com/gaff/

Marina O'L, affirming her love for TF

Tom, 30 ans, still seeking the English Literature Factory. @thefence.bsky.social camping near the nudist beach near Barmouth before heading to @machcomedyfest.bsky.social

Exciting news - @stackmagazines.bsky.social new publication, The Mortar, is free for 30 days until Friday. It features excellent writing from the best indie mags across the globe and is very much worth your time. mortarmagazine.com/upgrade?offe...

In a piece from Issue 27, @laurabeveridge.bsky.social names the squeezed middle: 30-year-old men called Nick. the-fence.com/i-am-a-meme-...

Issue 27 is stealing the show at WH Smith Stansted

Issue 27 is in prime location at WH Smith Victoria

A Celebration of the Banville-Off in Issue 27 from @anakinsella.bsky.social

Patrick Radden Keefe has great taste in magazines.

As a counterpoint The Fence in Croydon's Whitgift Centre

Issue 27 is IN BLOOM

This is really good.

Many people are calling Sophie Heawood's TF debut 'the column of the year'. Read it here.

This is absolutely fantastic.

Truthing

Issue 27 is on the ferry

I saw someone reading it on the tube the other day (between Farringdon and Moorgate on a Monday morning I think). First time I’ve seen The Fence being read in the wild. Wanted to commend them on their choice of periodical but would clearly have been too bizarre so (rightly) didn’t.