The Demise of the Workingmens Club

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The Exile said:
My Dad used to be the steward at the Ivy Leaf many years ago. Several things have contributed to the demise if you ask me -

The big problem with the smoking ban is that people could now smell the decades of everything else in there.
Bellend committee men 'running' it like their personal third reich (Paddy you're clearly one of the few good ones left)
The decent turns pricing themselves out of the market
The beer's nowhere near as cheap or as good as it used to be and people have less money
Failure to move with the times. The core of regulars are on their last legs by now, in ten or twenty years time there'll be nobody left
The rise of the 'fuck everyone else' culture

The nearest remnant we'll have before long is the Wetherspoons'
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We have only have a small committee and we all have gainful well-paid employment elsewhere except one bloke who's retired (bit of a Godsend at times). Smoking ban has niver made a jot of difference to us like, in fact takings went up afterwards! You can always smoke your e-cig in the bar mind, we dinnit give a shite about those. Agree about the bands though. £1000 for the better ones, £500 for the run-of-the-mill. Function room only holds 120. Got nee chance of making your money back on free entry, got nee chance of filling it on £5 a ticket. Beer's very cheap mind (for down here).
 


Paddy O'Dors said:
We have only have a small committee and we all have gainful well-paid employment elsewhere except one bloke who's retired (bit of a Godsend at times). Smoking ban has niver made a jot of difference to us like, in fact takings went up afterwards! You can always smoke your e-cig in the bar mind, we dinnit give a shite about those. Agree about the bands though. £1000 for the better ones, £500 for the run-of-the-mill. Function room only holds 120. Got nee chance of making your money back on free entry, got nee chance of filling it on £5 a ticket. Beer's very cheap mind (for down here).
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But tastes like piss?
 
Big Duke Six said:
But tastes like piss?
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Of course. What do you want for £2.50 a pint? If you want a pint of craft beer gan in the Fountain ower the road and pay £4.50. Think they dee a burger and chips for £8 in there anarl. If you want owt to eat in our place buy yersel a takeaway from the Indian next door, the Tiddly's across the street or the chippy 100 yards further down and bring it in. We'll give you a plate, knife and fork to eat it with!
 
A mated dad was the secretary of a large Durham area club when the telegraph got wind that women weren't allowed in the bar, "that's correct" he said down the phone. Can you tell me why? said the journalists, well ya see, we had 1 woman in charge of this country and she made a right mess of it, we don't want 1 ruining the club. Not much more to say really.
 
The club my dad runs has a turn on once a month which is free. No extra beer is sold as its on a Saturday which is the busiest night anyway. Just a thing for punters to enjoy (or not)
 
cornish mackem said:
A mated dad was the secretary of a large Durham area club when the telegraph got wind that women weren't allowed in the bar, "that's correct" he said down the phone. Can you tell me why? said the journalists, well ya see, we had 1 woman in charge of this country and she made a right mess of it, we don't want 1 ruining the club. Not much more to say really.
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You don't get proper humour like that at a Tory piss-up :lol:
 
Merv said:
Even in the 70s though, most clubs had a midweek night where you had rock bands on - mainly covers (Zeppelin, Floyd, Eagles, etc) but some of them doing original stuff. A few I saw back then went on to make their own albums. Not to everyone's taste but it's a misconception that it was all crooners and organ/drums duos.
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As a student, I worked in one & by & large it was same old same old every weekend.
The one time they did book a turn I thought was half decent (did a bit bluesy stuff), most of the regulars whinged like out cos they didn't like him.

hank williams said:
Oi I'm under 50 but gan up the club for a banter with the lads & watch the footy

Beer dirt cheap £2.16 ( Strongarm ) or double maxim £2.50 a bottle

Shame the way the club been ran into the ground by a bent committee & crappy secratary though :evil:
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Not far off;)

The other thing is they'll complain about the likes of Wetherspoons as competition, but the few thing that 'spoons do well is that they have decent range of beers & the place is clean. WMC's by & large sell standard fare big brand beer (sure a few will buy in bottles of DM if there's enough demand, the one I worked in did as there were 2 or 3 people who drank it regular) & they tend to be a bit grotty with manky bogs.
 
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Been a committee member for 7 year now in a failing club. Never ever fiddled anything and nor have any of the others I consider mates. A few lads do duties and get a couple of pints....24 hour drinking, supermarket selling cheap beer, brewery squeezing every last penny and holding some places to ransom. Clubs buried their heads in the sand by refusing to move with the times. We are trying to get younger faces
on but I think its to far gone. the old men that s left just outnumber us so changing things at the minute is out of the question unless we can change the way the older lads think.
 
brandon said:
Had a right chinwag earlier with me fatha regarding the dying of pubs and clubs. Namely the WMC.

No prizes for guessing where I'm from - and round out way there were 4 WMC's within a couple of miles on top of 9/10 other pubs only a decade or so ago.

Now there's 2 WMC's and 3 other pubs. People just aren't going out for a few pints anymore and there's no sense of community round our way either IMO.

Crying shame like but just the way it's going.

Anyone care to add their opinions as to why??

Wouldn't be surprised if in the next decade (as like the last) there's a similar number of losses which could mean we've got nowt left by 2025.
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Nothing lasts forever.I had to do that in a Freddie Murcury voice.

They 've had their time.I'm not sad to see them go.Their peak was about half a generation before me.Old mens places.Always smokey places (non smoker here) places,and so,places to be avoided.
 
Le Chuck said:
As a student, I worked in one & by & large its the old same old every weekend.
The one time they did book a turn I thought was half decent (did a bit bluesy stuff), most of the regulars whinged like out cos they didn't like him.



Not far off;)

The other thing is they'll complain about the likes of Wetherspoons as competition, but the few thing that 'spoons do well is that they have decent range of beers & the place is clean. WMC's by & large sell standard fare big brand beer (sure a few will buy in bottles of DM if there's enough demand, the one I worked in did as there were 2 or 3 people who drank it regular) & they tend to be a bit grotty with manky bogs.
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We've just spent four grand doing ours up! ;)

You cannit play snooker (50p), pool (50p) or darts in 'Spoons. They dinnit have a juke box (quid for five goes). Sky/BT sports (we can put different channels on different screens) not on in there. Dogs? Aye, most welcome in our place (got a supply of dog biscuits if it's peckish and a big watter bowl). How do we survive not selling four quid + pints?
 
Paddy O'Dors said:
We've just spent four grand doing ours up! ;)

You cannit play snooker (50p), pool (50p) or darts in 'Spoons. They dinnit have a juke box (quid for five goes). Sky/BT sports (we can put different channels on different screens) not on in there. Dogs? Aye, most welcome in our place (got a supply of dog biscuits if it's peckish and a big watter bowl). How do we survive not selling four quid + pints?
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Which club is it mate. Sounds like you lads run a fine establishment. I might pop in next time i'm down.
 
Paddy O'Dors said:
We've just spent four grand doing ours up! ;)

You cannit play snooker (50p), pool (50p) or darts in 'Spoons. They dinnit have a juke box (quid for five goes). Sky/BT sports (we can put different channels on different screens) not on in there. Dogs? Aye, most welcome in our place (got a supply of dog biscuits if it's peckish and a big watter bowl). How do we survive not selling four quid + pints?
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If you have a separate 'sports' bar then it helps, not all have & having to stop talking / TV volume when the match is on goes off when the bingo is on, is somewhat irritating
 
There used to be three clubs and two pubs in place I live - which is pretty small - there's only one pub now and that's pretty quiet apart from a Friday. I'm off out in a mo to a pub that used to be stacked to the rafters on a Friday (lads night out) and now there's just a couple of lads playing pool and about six of us old pensioners chewing the fat and being grumpy in the corner.

Place will probably close when we pop off.
 
Big Duke Six said:
Which club is it mate. Sounds like you lads run a fine establishment. I might pop in next time i'm down.
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Post Office club mate up North End. More than welcome, just let me know when you're in town. I'll even get the first beer in. ;) Dinnit bother bringing more than £25 with you mind, you'll niver spend it all.

Le Chuck said:
If you have a separate 'sports' bar then it helps, not all have & having to stop talking / TV volume when the match is on goes off when the bingo is on, is somewhat irritating
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Nee bingo in our club mate. Quiz night every so often. Doesn't clash with the footy though.
 
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Paddy O'Dors said:
Post Office club mate up North End. More than welcome, just let me know when you're in town. I'll even get the first beer in. ;) Dinnit bother bringing more than £25 with you mind, you'll niver spend it all.
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Just had a look on google. I know the place. London Rd right?
Look forward to it in the New Year mate.
 
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