A copy of a women’s magazine is the only clue to a radical change of rules at Birmingham’s last surviving gentlemen’s club.

A unanimous vote to allow women to join the Jewellery Quarter’s Saint Paul’s Club for the first time in its 150-year history has caused barely a stir.

In rooms converted from three Georgian houses, in St Paul’s Square, are roaring fires, comfy leather armchairs, portraits of Nelson and Victorian caricatures of bustling businessmen.

Disappointingly, there’s no ironed newspapers (they stopped buying the Telegraph) or cigar smoking (since the ban), but Bridge is played every Thursday and a gong is sounded to announce lunch.

Falling membership and a desire to modernise are why women are allowed, said Bart Dalton, membership committee chairman.

There are now 15 women members and the first to get past the blackball selection was Fiona Toye, CEO of insignia manufacturer Toye Kenning & Spencer.

Mrs Toye, aged 51, admitted she felt daunted at first.

“I went along with some trepidation and thought ‘oh my word, I’m going to do the wrong thing and say the wrong thing’, but they made me feel very accepted,” she said.

She has embraced quaint by-laws which include writing down someone’s name in “The Book” for misdemeanours like misuse of the dining table gavel or breaking crockery. The penalty is picking up half the drinks tab.

Mr Dalton, a stockbroker and financial advisor, said: “Until two years ago, this was the best-kept secret in Birmingham. It was kept so well that membership was deteriorating and had decreased from 160 in its heyday to 104, now it’s getting towards the 200 mark.

“It was a gentlemen’s club for 150 years and it needed to be modernised, brought into this century.

“It used to be only guys managing partnerships of firms, but obviously in today’s world it’s not that way and that should be reflected in the club.”

The old boys’ network said they’re not being politically correct, integration’s gone smoothly and women should be on the committee soon.

The Rev Mary Gilbert, vicar of St Paul’s, joined as an honorary member through her position at the church.

The 47-year-old said: “I was welcomed with open arms. I think it was almost a gentlemen’s club by default because women were never CEOs or MDs or even vicars in the 19th century, and it was never expected they would go out for lunch.”

Members, who include UKIP MEP Mike Nattrass, pay about £350 a year for membership to the club, which was started by a group of jewellers unimpressed with food in the local pubs.

For the fee, they get their own key and daily lunches prepared by Linda the cook, whose rice pudding is traditionally served with a dash of “Walsall Sauce” – a capful of gin.

The “olde worlde” look is there to stay, added 39-year-old Mr Dalton.

“The decor is a reminder of bygone days,” he said. “We want to keep the body the same and keep a lot of the feel that’s been here.”

Change was not always so easy to bring about. The day a member dared to wear a white polo neck jumper in the early 1980s is remembered vividly by 1986 president David Checkley.

The 72-year-old retired chartered surveyor said: “I think he wore it to test us – whooh, he was castigated.”

Until May last year, members had to wear a suit and tie but this has been relaxed to normal business attire.

David, however, still wears a tie. 

“I’m not sure that I like it,” he said of the dress code change. “Some of our younger members wanted to be less formal because they go to work like it.

"It’s just times changing, so you’ve got to change with them.”