Hythe Club traces its history back to 1797 when missionaries from a congregational chapel were sent across Southampton Water to convert the “Hethens” as natives of Hythe were known. They went on to build a chapel close to where a ferry still connects the village to the city via the world’s oldest working pier. One suspects the founders would not be too happy, however, to find that three walls of that original building are now part of the club’s snooker room. After a spell as a Mission Hall and as a school a British Legion Club was formed on the site in 1927, becoming a CIU club in 1937. Since then the club has steadily expanded and with 1,950 members is one of the largest in the South. Expansion is not that easy, however, in what is a conservation area, and the club’s new conservatory, for instance, was only built after lengthy discussions with the planners.