Glee Clubs are small musical groups that specialise in singing short songs or ‘glees’. They were popular in the UK in the Victorian Age before proper choirs took over, but now they’re making a return as a quirky, urban singing alternative. A growing minority of media and creative types are starting Glee Clubs in their homes or local pub. They sing 1950s Broadway musicals and Radiohead and eat crudités from Whole Foods. This is part credit crunch home entertaining, and partly the desire for community and nostalgia. Choirs and parlour games, a bit like knitting, are becoming trendy. There are now more than 25,000 choirs registered in Britain. “Choirs are the only place where people come together and express a common emotion,” says choral conductor Suzi Digby. “That’s why football crowds sing and why choirs are incredibly valuable to society in general.”

The concept of the ‘parlour’ and ‘salon’, which is about intimate gatherings coming together for culture and entertainment, is becoming more popular, less high-brow. Mother New York has collaborated with Vanity Fair to create a Proust Parlour in SoHo, which brings to life the famous magazine questionnaire. Rather than celebrities, Mother employees have been asked to complete the questionnaire. Have a peep here.

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Thanks to sarah rabia for this story. sarah desperately wishes Grace Coddington was her grandmother.

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