THE UK CABARET CLUBLAND PAGE
Social clubs with political affiliations made up a high level of Clubland numbers across the nation during the 1970’s heydays of the club movement. With community demographics changing and a perception of disillusionment with UK politicians, it seems things they are a-changing. Mark Ritchie pops a spotlight on some of the clubs he has visited recently, where the politics seem to have taken a back seat, in an apparent bid for business survival.
Beginning in my own small corner of the UK, the politically affiliated club scene has changed beyond all recognition. My part of Yorkshire was always covered in miner’s welfare clubs and working men’s clubs, certainly in South Yorkshire and parts of West Yorkshire, as late as the mid-1980’s. Once the sulphurous year-long miner’s strike of 1984/85 was lost, it should really have come as no real surprise to anyone armed with any degree of insight about such communities, that pit closures followed thick and fast.
With an estimated eight jobs outside of the pits existing for every one mining job, the knock-on effect was that factories, engineering set-up’s and other such works, which may have provided social clubs for their workers, also found themselves in dire-straits, with so many more club closures inevitable.
Nowadays very little remains of the old heavy industries and their social facilities, but there is much more to the problem than this. Listed below are just a few.
1/ Club men were slow or reluctant in realising the changing role of women in society.
2/Disillusionment with mainstream political parties surely makes it much less likely that people will support clubs with political affiliations.
3/ Communities who work together are much more likely to play together and examples of huge and united workforces are tough to pinpoint in 2026.
The classic example on my own doorstep is the fact that not too far from where I live, the old Normanton Conservative Club in West Yorkshire has shed its political past and lots of us, who just are not into the politics, have recently become members. This innovation has been introduced up and down the land.
This is surely a signpost towards any future which the old Clubland may have to look forward to in the 21st century.
We are always on the lookout for Clubland people who would like to write something of their own experiences for this page. If you have a Clubland story to tell, or if you would care to contribute a little more regularly, we want to hear from you. Please e-mail the editor at mark.ritchie@ukcabaret.com
