Status in the British Library Reading Rooms

From the Guardian, The Hidden Tribes of the British Library, covering the status associated with various reading rooms.

...a seething hotbed of elitism and hierarchy.

This reminds me of a travel review I once read about the famous Cafe de Flore in Paris. The lovely sidewalk tables were tourist territory, and thus low status. Inside the cafe in the beautiful wood-panelled interior the status was better but still not as high as in the upstairs room, which was more modern and uglier and therefore used by high status types like Simone de Beauvoir.