In Brit Parliament speak, “strangers” means non-members of the House of Commons. I assume that means that this is a bar that non-members are able to patronise.
(The origin of “strangers” in this sense relates to the way the Commons goes into closed session. Any MP who wants to trigger a closed session points to the public gallery, says “Mr Speaker, I spy strangers,” and the House votes whether to go to closed session. Nothing so humdrum as “Mr Speaker, pursuant to sub-rule 15(7), I move that this House do consider going to closed session.” )
I’ve been in the Stranger’s Bar. It’s in the middle of the Palace by the river and is a small and easily crowded bar decorated to look like a regular pub. It’s frequented by senior parliamentary staff and MPs.
Sports and Social round the corner is mainly used by junior staff and is only slightly bigger.
Strangely enough the Lords Bar which you’d expect to be super fancy is really spartan and boring. Looks like a tiny All Bar One.
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In the building. Once you get inside Parliament, it’s surprising how relatively small most of its internal spaces are, so it’s a bit of a warren of individual rooms.
How does the Stranger’s Bar compare with St Stephen’s Tavern across the street? I’ve been to St Stephen’s a few times, it’s truly a wonderful place for a political junkie like me.
Knock it off. It is a legitimate question in which the questioner might be seeking a rather more complete and nuanced response than one might find in a simple Wikipedia article.
Snide comments are not helpful, particularly as a first response.
Scuttlebutt is that Thomson seems to be on a downwards self-destructive spiral and is likely to be de-selected. I hope he snaps out of it. He also hasn’t exactly achieved much.