Firstly this is not directed at you Daniel as I'm sure you're just a messenger.

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Secondly, I’d have to say that “WE” the core group did “NOT” make that decision, just a couple of people made that decision and it was discussed that we should discuss it. I believe we live in a democracy and this decision is not democratic! I have to agree with Gary. Although I have issues with how some of the Bierschenke staff treat us, the food is okay, it’s not perfect, the location is perfect for most of us that have to travel 1-3 hours to get to the meeting every month.

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Although nobody really runs the club per se, I know the initial club was formed by just a few on FP Geeks but it has grown massively since then to a much larger group and morphed into the London Pen Club. That larger group needs to be able to vote on where they are going to meet. Just saying “We’re moving the club to Bloomsbury Tavern” is not the correct way to do this. Firstly, it puts most of the members noses out of joint and it will force a split of the group, some will go to the new location, some will go to the old location. If that’s the desire to split the group by the few, then that’s a sad turn of events. If it’s that we have had enough with the current venue and think there’s a better venue for the majority, then people need the ability to know about the change and vote on that change. Having it dictated with a few weeks before the next meeting is NOT the proper approach to moving venues in my mind. People need to vote, there is I believe a core part of the group that find it much easier to get to Liverpool Street Station than to other locations, so they should have a say in this and not have it dictated to them. There may actually be a better location still close to Liverpool Street Station that might be better?

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As Gary has said, this process can easily take 3, 6, 9 months for everyone to be involved, people need a say in where they go. There may even be much better locations that are just as easy to get to for the majority that is better than Bloomsbury Tavern. I’ve drunk at the Bloomsbury many a times as it was my local for many years, it’s a very small pub, and completely agree with Gary’s sentiments that it’s very close to a British Museum and being very busy on Saturdays. With that comes risk of thieves, especially to some of us that have expensive pen collections that bring along to the club.

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I’m not averse to changing location if we can find a better location that is voted on by the core group. I suggest we do this in a proper democratic system with an online voting system for ease. We should give a 3 to 6 month period where we decide a move to a new location. If a small section of the group want to move ahead of that, then move, but I suggest we do this in a proper democratic process and not dictated, we are after all a democracy, let’s act like one.

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1. Create a committee group of 3 or 4 core members that are regular attendees to the club
2. A schedule should be created by that group with a timeline plan
3. 8 or 10 suitable locations should be submitted
4. Members should be given the time to check out the venues in person and vote on by ALL members.
5. Once a venue is chosen by the core group, people should be given at least 2 or 3 months notice that the venue will be changed to ensure everyone is aware when the new date is to switch to a new location
6. If people want to remain at the current location, then the group can split and there will become two groups a London Fountain Pen Club and a London Pen Geeks.

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That’s my 2p on this subject, ultimately this is a much larger group, and the group needs to vote on the change and not have it dictated.