Gallery

A look around Level 2

Eight frames from ordinary weeks upstairs. Nothing here is borrowed, staged with hired crowds or dressed up for a camera, and the counters in these photographs are the same worthless counters you will be handed at a table.

Close view of an old timber gaming wheel against a dark wall, lit by a single lamp — The wheel, under its own lampA handsome old thing against the far wall of the front room, with a clack you can hear from the bar. It spins, it stops, everyone makes a noise about it, and precisely nothing depends on where it lands. There is no board to place anything on and no payout table on the wall, because there is nothing to pay out.

A quiet corner of armchairs and a low couch beside a reading lamp and a rain-streaked window — The middle room, nine in the eveningArmchairs, a low couch, two reading lamps and the music turned down. This is where people end up when they have had enough of a table but not enough of the evening, and where a host will send anyone who needs a break. The tea is free and nobody comments on how long you sit here.

A rack of clay and timber counters waiting at an empty seat on green felt — A rack of counters, waiting at a seatClay and timber, worn smooth at the edges by a lot of hands. They keep score and they do nothing else. You cannot buy them, sell them, swap them or carry them down the stairs, and the rack you hand back at the end of the night is worth exactly what it was worth when you sat down.

A host's hands dealing cards slowly across the felt, counters and a shuffled deck nearby — A host dealing, slowly on purposeOur hosts are taught to teach rather than to perform. Cards go out at a pace that lets a newcomer follow, the hand is explained as it happens, and a round gets restarted without a sigh if somebody has lost the thread. Nobody at this table is playing for anything.

The entrance foyer at the top of the stairs with a host's lectern, chalk board and cloakroom — The foyer, the lectern and the cloakroomWhere the stairs and the lift arrive, and where every visit begins with photo identification. The night's programme is chalked on the board behind the lectern, coats and bigger bags go in on the left, and the accessible toilet is through the door on the right.

A narrow rooftop terrace at dusk with small tables and a view over laneway rooftops — The terrace at dusk, in the warmer monthsSix tables, a railing, a view across laneway rooftops and enough shelter to survive a change in the weather. Cards and short board games only up here, because the wind has strong opinions about anything with small pieces. Three steps up from the corridor.

The private games room with one large table, dimmed lamps and a door standing ajar — The back room with the door shutOne big table, dimmable lamps, a sideboard for platters and chairs for fourteen. Hired by the evening with a host who stays for the whole of it. There is no camera in this room and no filming, which is why some people book it for a farewell rather than a birthday.

Hardware Lane at night after rain, wet cobbles reflecting awning lights and a lit stairway doorway — Hardware Lane after rainThe laneway from our window, awnings dripping, the plain street door with the brass plate and the stairway light on. If you are looking for us and cannot see a sign, that is because there is barely one. Count the awnings and look for the lit stairs.

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