How a booking is made here, in four steps
One thread, no formsThere is no form on this site, no account to make and no membership to join. An evening is arranged in a short exchange of messages with Tamsin, who runs the bookings office and reads every one of them herself.
Most bookings take about four messages. Here is what each of them contains.
Say when, and for how long
The date, the hour, and one length from the ladder. Add a name from The Hang if you have one, or describe the evening you want and leave the choice to Tamsin.
Say where
The hotel, or the street of a private address. The room number, or the name beside the bell, waits until your companion is confirmed and goes no further than her.
Read the reply
Back comes a name, an arrival time to the minute, and the fee in whole pounds. Nothing is settled until you say yes, and a no costs nothing and needs no reason.
Open the door
At the agreed minute she is there, dressed for the plan you described. You hand her the fee yourself, and then the evening is simply an evening.
Hello, I would like to book [name] on [date] at [time] for [duration]. I am staying at [hotel name], and will share the room number on confirmation.
What we ask, and what we never ask
Your first name and where to come. That is the whole of it. We do not ask for a surname, an employer, an identity document or a reference from anyone. For a hotel we confirm the room number before she sets out; for a private address, which street, which door and what is written by the bell. Nothing is kept afterwards.
Notice, and the honest answer about it
Several companions reach Mayfair or Knightsbridge inside the hour, while a Friday table wants two days. Tamsin gives you a real arrival minute rather than a hopeful one, and if the hour you want has gone she says so instead of offering a substitute you did not ask for.
Changing your mind
With three hours' notice or more, move or cancel and nothing is owed. Inside the last two hours, half the fee applies; if she arrives and nobody is there, the whole of it does. She waits fifteen minutes past the agreed time. If we have to cancel, you owe nothing and hear from Tamsin the moment we know.
Before you write
No. Describe the evening and Tamsin will suggest one, with her reasons. She has met all twenty-eight.
Usually within a few minutes, at any hour. If a message is left overnight it is answered first thing rather than at nine sharp.
Tamsin's reply carries three things: the name of your companion, the minute she will arrive and the figure in whole pounds. When you answer yes, the evening is fixed and she begins getting ready for it. If something on your side moves after that, a table, a room or a start time, write at once and the plan is changed to match.
Yes. Give Tamsin the dates together and she will hold them with the same companion where she can, at the same figures.
Delete the thread once the evening is arranged. Nothing on our side identifies you, and Tamsin will never write first unless you have asked her to.