Members’ Guide

The society’s website, clws.org.uk, lists our forthcoming tastings and lunches, and lets you book and pay for places at tastings for yourself and your guests. You don’t need an account or a password: you book with the email address the society has for you.

This guide explains what the website shows and how to book, pay for, check and cancel your places. It describes booking for tastings from 2027 onwards.

1. What the website shows

1.1        Calendar of events: the year’s programme of tastings and lunches.

1.2        Book here: the tastings that are currently open for booking. Each shows its date, title and presenter. THE WINES opens the list of wines to be tasted, once the presenter has supplied it. Click a tasting’s title to see its full details and book. Tastings appear here about eight weeks before they take place.

1.3        The event page: what kind of event it is, when and where it takes place (with a map), the wines (for a tasting), a description, the number of places and how many are still available, and the booking form. If a tasting can’t be booked, its page says why in place of the booking form: it isn’t open for booking yet, it’s fully booked (with a box to join the waiting list), or it has already started.

1.4        My bookings: type your email address to see the events you’re booked into (see section 7).

1.5        Newsletters: the latest newsletter, with reports, details of coming events and the programme.

2. How to book

2.1        Please add wine@clws.org.uk to your email contacts or safe senders, so confirmations don’t end up in your junk or spam folder.

2.2        Go to Book here and click the tasting you want.

2.3        In the booking form, enter your email address. It must be the one the society has for you.

2.4        Choose the number of tickets: one for yourself, plus one for each guest, up to four in all. The form offers only as many places as are still free.

2.5        The first box says Myself. If you’re bringing guests, enter their names in the other boxes. Please give each guest’s full name; it goes on the attendance register at reception. If the booking is only for your guests, not yourself, overwrite Myself with a guest’s name.

2.6        If the form doesn’t offer as many places as you want, it’s because fewer are left. Book the places offered and then join the waiting list for the rest (section 8), or email wine@clws.org.uk to put your whole party on the waiting list.

2.7        A booking is for four places at most. For a larger party, make a second booking.

2.8        The form shows the total to pay. Click Continue to payment.

2.9        Pay in the payment form, which opens on the same page (see section 3).

2.10        A message on the page confirms your booking, and a confirmation email follows from Central London Wine Society <wine@clws.org.uk>. The email is also your receipt.

2.11      If a confirmation hasn’t arrived within a few minutes, look in your junk or spam folder.

2.12      A booking on the website is a real booking, paid for at once. Your place is booked only when you have paid; until then nothing is held for you.

2.13      You can book until the tasting starts. A booking made after noon on the Sunday before is already past the cancellation deadline (9.2), so any refund is at the Secretary’s discretion (9.3).

2.14      The boards passed round at meetings are for information only. Signing one no longer books a place.

3. Payment

3.1        Payment is made through Stripe, a company that processes online payments for websites. In our case it accepts payment by debit card, credit card, Apple Pay or Google Pay.

3.2        You pay without leaving our website. The payment form on the page is Stripe’s own, so your card details go straight to Stripe and the website never sees them. Your bank may ask you to approve the payment. Stripe then tells the website that you have paid, and the website makes your booking and sends you an email as confirmation and receipt.

3.3        Stripe has an optional feature called Onelink, which saves your payment details for later autofill. To use it, fill in the “Save my information” section of the payment form; otherwise leave it empty. It takes effect for Stripe/Onelink transactions outside CLWS too.

3.4        The payment appears on your bank or card statement as CLWS WINE TASTING.

4. If the booking or payment doesn’t go through

4.1        “That email address isn’t on our mailing list. Members: please check the address. Not yet a member? Email wine@clws.org.uk to ask for a place.” means the email address you typed isn’t the one we have for you. Check it for typing errors, or try another address you might have given us. If it still doesn’t work, email us.

4.2        A request for a name means a name box was left empty, or held something that isn’t a name, such as an email address.

4.3        “The payment didn’t go through” means no booking has been made and no place is held. You can try again at once, with another card if you wish. If you don’t, we’ll email you later to confirm that nothing was booked or charged.

4.4        If the places are taken while you are paying, your card is not charged. Your banking app may show a pending amount for a few days before it drops off. If the tasting is then full, your request is added to the waiting list (see section 8). If some places remain, the form offers those instead.

5. Changing a booking

5.1        The number of places reserved by a booking cannot be changed online.

5.2        To change a guest’s name, email wine@clws.org.uk and we’ll update your booking. To add guests, make another booking. In the further booking, overwrite Myself with a guest’s name.

5.3        To cancel all or part of a booking, see section 9.

6. If you don’t use email

6.1        Members without email can ask the Secretary to book for them. Confirmations then come to the society, and the Secretary will let you know.

7. Checking your bookings

7.1        Open My bookings, type your email address and click Show my bookings. You’ll see each event you’re booked into, with its date, the number of tickets, the amount paid and the booking’s status.

7.2        The page only displays bookings for information. To change or cancel one, email us.

8. Waiting lists

8.1        When a tasting is full, its page shows a Join the waiting list box in place of the booking form. Enter your email address, the number of tickets, up to four, and a name for each place as in the booking form (2.5), then click Join the waiting list. Joining is free.

8.2        You’ll see a message on the page and receive an email confirming that your request is on the waiting list.

8.3        The list is kept in the order people join. Freed places go to the waiting list first, so a tasting with anyone on its waiting list shows as full even if a place has come free.

8.4        If places come free, the Secretary will email to ask whether you still want them. Please reply, and don’t try to book online. The website then emails you an offer with a personal link. An offer is always for your whole request. Follow the link and pay, and the places are yours.

8.5        If you don’t want the places offered, click No, thank you on the same page. An offer may carry a “valid until” date, after which it lapses.

8.6        If you want fewer places than you asked for, or no longer want a place at all, email us.

9. Cancellations and refunds – Terms and Conditions

9.1        To cancel a booking, email wine@clws.org.uk with your name, the tasting and its date. Bookings can’t be cancelled on the website.

9.2        If your email reaches us before noon on the Sunday before the tasting, we cancel the booking and refund your payment in full to the card you paid with. The website emails you to confirm the cancellation and refund. The refund usually reaches your card within 5 to 10 working days.

9.3        After that time, or if you don’t attend, a refund is at the Secretary’s discretion, which takes into account whether your place can be filled from the waiting list.

9.4        Refunds are made to your card only. There are no credits towards future tastings.

9.5        If the society cancels a tasting, everyone who has paid is refunded in full. If a tasting is moved to another date, your booking and payment will be carried over to the new date. A refund can be requested in the normal way.

9.6        To cancel only part of a booking, such as a guest’s place, email the Secretary.

10. Lunches

10.1      Society lunches, picnics etc. will be included in the Calendar of events and newsletters but cannot be booked online. Details about these and bookings will be handled by email to wine@clws.org.uk.

11. On the day

11.1      Wednesday meetings start at 6:30 pm prompt in the Edward Bridges Room, Civil Service Club, Great Scotland Yard. On arrival, tick your name, and the names of any guests, on the CLWS register on the reception desk.

12. Not yet a member?

12.1      Bookings are for members and their guests. To join the society, email wine@clws.org.uk.

13. Your comments on this guide

13.1      This guide is new, and we’d like it to be as clear and complete as possible. If anything is confusing, missing or wrong, or if you had difficulty using the website, please email wine@clws.org.uk with “Members’ Guide” in the subject. All comments are welcome.