Men-only Garrick Cub votes to let women join for the first time in its 193-year history after a sexism storm sparked by celebrity clients

The male-only Garrick Club voted this evening to allow women to become members, for the first time in the prestigious institution’s 193-year history.

The groundbreaking decision comes after celebrities including Stephen Fry and Sting threatened to leave the London club unless members pledged to allow women into the male-only space.

Announcer John Simpson also said that he and many others “would also find it impossible to say” if the doors were not opened to the opposite sex.

The Garrick’s 1,300 members, including King Charles, Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden and actor Hugh Bonneville, voted at the special general meeting this evening.

The vote, which asked members to confirm that “the club’s rules permit the admission of female members,” was passed 60 percent were in favor after hundreds of members debated for two hours about the merits of allowing women to join.

The meeting was closed to non-members, with a warning reportedly issued before the vote by the club secretary, who explained that the matter was confidential and should not be discussed outside the club.

The men, many of whom were wearing the club’s pink and green striped ties, according to the Guardian, gathered at the Connaught Rooms in Covent Garden to cast their votes.

It comes after a series of high-profile members – including theatre, film and television producers – signed a document last week warning that members were in an untenable position due to the ‘very public controversy’ over the sexism row.

The letter to chairman Christopher Kirker was signed by theater producer Karl Sydow and Matthew Byam Shaw, a director of Netflix’s The Crown.

It said: ‘The current very public controversy over this issue has left us all in an intolerable position.

‘Our relationships with female artists, co-producers, authors, cast members, members of our creative teams, backstage and front-of-house theater staff have all been so jeopardized by the recent publicity that, without serious progress being made to finally get something done This anomaly will leave us unable to continue as Garrick members.”

In March, a letter was written to the £1,700-a-year club calling for some high-flying women to be admitted.

Eminent women reportedly recommended for the club include actor Juliet Stevenson, classicist Dame Mary Beard, broadcaster Baroness Ayesha Hazarika and Channel 4 news presenter Cathy Newman.

The blazing row and calls for women’s access to the club came after an all-male membership list was publicly leaked. It also showed that the majority of members were over 50 and predominantly white.

Top civil servant Simon Case and MI6 boss Sir Richard Moore resigned from the club after their names were published on a leaked membership list.

The officials’ involvement in the club was criticized as a mockery of their efforts to make their institutions more inclusive.

At least four judges are also reported to have resigned in the aftermath, which came under intense public scrutiny.

However, others criticized the men for leaving the institute following the outrage, with one member saying it showed a lack of “backbone” to be “bullied by the thought police” into quitting.

Former minister Ben Wallace defended senior male politicians and civil servants who are members of the club, saying they should be ‘left alone’.

It sparked outrage among feminists, with a group of prominent female lawyers organizing a protest on the steps of the club in central London in March.

Feminist lawyers Charlotte Proudman and Julia Needham, as well as Labor MP Apsana Begum were among those who organized and signed an open letter calling on the club to improve its diversity.

“For too long, the Garrick Club has stood as a symbol of exclusivity, a bastion of power maintained by the privileged few – primarily white men who hold the power over the decisions that impact our society, our political system, our legal system, our media, and arts and culture,” the letter said.

Ahead of tonight’s historic vote, the institution, which is one of the oldest in Britain, repeatedly blocked attempts to allow women to become members.

In 2011, Joanna Lumley tried unsuccessfully to become the first female member when she was introduced by Downton Abbey actor Hugh Bonneville.

The Garrick was founded in Covent Garden in 1831 as an organization for actors, theatergoers and ‘men of refinement’.

Until now, women were only allowed in if they were invited by a member and accompanied by a man during their visit.

Several high-profile members quit earlier this year, including the head of the civil service, Simon Case.