The club was founded in Clifton, an affluent suburb of Bristol, in 1818 by a host of local gentlemen.

[citation needed] Records of the Clifton Club are held at Bristol Archives (Ref.

Historically the club's membership has included the heads of major Bristol business, local landed gentry, and the higher echelons of the professions.

Originally built in 1806-9 as the Clifton Assembly Rooms and Hotel,[3][4] the club purchased the building in the mid-nineteenth century.

In common with other members' clubs the purpose of the Clifton Club is to provide its members with luxurious and exclusive facilities in which they may meet one another, eat, drink, play games such as bridge, chess, backgammon and snooker, and generally use the place as a 'home away from home'.