The Eccentric Club’s Infamous Friday 13th Dinner Returns This June

The only annual feast when guests walk under ladders, spill salt, and tempt fortune.

A centuries-old club opens its doors to outsiders—for one gloriously superstitious evening.

Held at an iconic Mayfair venue, this soirée is as daring as it is distinguished.

On Friday the 13th of June 2025, one of Britain’s quirkiest and most coveted institutions will unlock its doors to the curious public for an evening of deliberate defiance and delicious indulgence. The Eccentric Club’s Annual Friday 13th Dinner—an evening soaked in symbolism, satire, and superstition—returns to Mayfair, offering a rare opportunity for non-members to step into an age-old tradition.

With roots that date back to the 18th century and a modern revival as defiant as ever, the dinner is more than just a meal—it is a theatrical experience wrapped in historic eccentricity. Guests are encouraged to do everything their grandmothers warned them not to: walk under ladders, look into broken mirrors, spill salt with flair, open umbrellas indoors, and even sit at a table of exactly thirteen, so places are limited. But this isn’t chaos—it’s ceremonial.

Hosted by the Eccentric Club, whose lineage includes visionaries, inventors, artists, and lovable eccentrics, the event is a riotous blend of tongue-in-cheek tradition and genuine intellectual charm. Expect mind-bending after-dinner speeches, surprise performers, and a guest list peppered with today’s most colourful thinkers and nonconformists.

The dinner features a reverse-sequenced meal (so farewell speeches before starters!), mischief from London’s sharpest minds, and a chance to witness one of the UK’s most secretive and storied clubs in its natural habitat. The Mayfair plush surroundings only elevate the delicious madness.

But the Friday 13th Dinner is more than just an oddball gala. It’s a living piece of London’s cultural fabric—a cheeky stand against rigid convention and dull respectability. Historically adopted by the Eccentric Club in the 1930s from the equally old Thirteen Club, the dinner was designed to mock irrational fears and poke fun at superstition. Over the decades, it has become a sophisticated act of rebellion against predictability and pessimism.

The Eccentric Club, re-established in 2008 to continue the traditions of the original 1781-founded society, rarely opens its gatherings to non-members. This event is one of the few exceptions, and tickets are extremely limited. If you’ve ever longed to drink a toast with a top-hatted alchemist, discuss philosophy with a time-travelling engineer, or simply bask in the glow of intelligent mischief—this is your night.