The Club was established in 1885 and is one of the oldest Conservative Clubs in Great Britain. In the same year, the Club took over the lease of 5 Museum Street, one of the finest Georgian fronted properties in Saffron Walden. In 1894, the Club was one of the first to join the newly founded Association of Conservative Clubs and the original Certificate can be seen in the Club lounge.

Research of local newspapers has revealed that on the 27th April 1895, Mr. G.W. Brewis, whilst proposing a toast to the Club’s 10th Anniversary, confirmed that the Club was instituted by him when having a game of billiards with Lord Cadogan at Audley End, the home of Lord Braybrooke.

The founding Trustees were Col. Cramner Byng JP, Major King, M. Nockolds Esq. and G.W. Brewis Esq. JP. Col. Cramner Byng lived at Quendon Hall and Mr Nockolds, a well-known estate agent, in Church Street. Little is now known of the other two Trustees. The Club Treasurer was E. Taylor Esq. and the Hon. Secretary A.N.Myhill Esq., a well-known coal and corn merchant of 26 Gold Street.

Records shown that the first Club Manager was Joseph Johnson who was subsequently succeeded around 1890 by Henry Hayward. Unfortunately no record has been found of the Club’s first Chairman and Committee members.

According to the Deeds of the Club, George Archer inherited the property in 1789 and, no doubt, it had been in the ownership of the Archer family for many years before that date. The Archer family were of some standing in Saffron Walden with as many as twenty-one of the family being Mayor of the Town from the late 17th Century through to the Municipal Corporations Act of 1835.

The magnificent tombs of several of the Archer family are located on the high ground immediately to the right of the main entrance of St. Mary’s Parish Church adjacent to the Club.

Under the settlement of 1789 the property was inherited automatically by generations of the Archers until the freehold was sold by Miss Georgina Mary Archer, presumably the last of George Archer’s family line to the Conservative Club in 1923.

Records in the Library indicate that the building was solely occupied by the Club for several years, but later, parts were let out to organisations such as the National Farmers Union up to the 1960s.

There was a major refurbishment of the separate lounge and “Men Only” bar area in the early 1970s and again in 1991 when the two rooms were converted into a single lounge around the horseshoe shaped bar at a cost of £90,000.

Today, members and their guests can enjoy the atmosphere, comfort and facilities of this historic club, thanks to the foresight in 1885 of the founding Trustees who acquired the lease and in 1923 of the Club Committee of that year for purchasing the freehold of this magnificent listed building, located in a highly attractive part of the central conservation area of the Town.