Sevenoaks Bridge Club has been running since September 1986, when it was started by Jim Garlinge as a Duplicate Club for new players. Jim and his wife Margaret (pictured) are still members with Jim a stalwart attendee at most sessions.  Over the years the club has been based at various venues, depending on the popularity of bridge at the time and the number of regular players. For about 20 years the club was based at St Julian’s Club growing to a maximum attendance in 2017 of 16 regular tables and up to 20 tables playing.  During the 2020 pandemic we stopped playing face-to-face bridge and joined with Otford and Swanley for weekly online games. We then returned to the refurbished Sevenoaks Community Center as of September 2021 before moving to our new home at Hollybush in 2023.

The ethos of the Club has always been to welcome new members regardless of level of play, to a friendly and not too competitive Club where the emphasis is on sporting behaviour in a social environment. This culture has enabled our Club to fill the gap between “new” bridge players and the “serious” clubs. We often have new retirees join or married couples where one is a beginner and we even have a few teenage members. We frequently host international players who join for a few weeks whilst they are visiting Kent and have had visitors from more than 30 different countries over the years.