When I first starting drinking, clubs were this mysterious, closed-off world. Inaccessible, just like pubs had been in my early teenage years.
Clubs remained alien when I first started visiting pubs. That all changed in my second year at university. Some of my friends had moved to Chapeltown. Into a house directly opposite the Trades Club.
My friends realised that the student union was affiliated to the Clubs and Institutes Union (CIU). As were most working men’s clubs. Meaning we could go and play on their snooker tables. There being fuck all tables outside clubs then.
The draught beer was crap. But they had Guinness. Because of the large West Indian contingent in the clientele. We could hear the thwack of every domino they smacked down.
Old political allegiances meant that inner city Leeds had many Liberal clubs. When I lived on Burley Road, there was a club not that far away called The Burley Road Liberal Club.
We used our CIU cards to get in to play snooker. Often enough that at one point they asked: “Do you want to become members, lads?” Which is what we did.
There was an obvious Scottish & Newcastle tie. But they had hand pulls serving Younger’s IPA and No.3. Of course, I drank the latter. Being dark and vaguely Mild-like. Now, knowing more of Scottish brewing practice, I suspect No. 3 was just IPA with added caramel.
We mostly went to the club to play snooker. But, of course, we’d have a couple of pints to accompany the game. They looked after the beer pretty well. And I’ve always had a soft spot for Younger’s No. 3.
Do you have any memories of clubs in the 1970s? Please share them.
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5 comments:
The first place I drank regularly, as a sixteen year old in 1987, was a Labour club where the Young Socialists branch I belonged to met. There was a guy on the door as you went in as you had to be either a member or signed in as a guest by one, but we just showed our party cards and were let in. It was tied to the now defunct Greenall Whitley brewery in Warrington and we drank halves of their keg bitter, which I think cost about thirty pence. It never crossed our minds that we or the bar staff were doing anything illegal. The snooker table in the side room also seemed to draw in many of the non-political social members from the local estate. It went bust eventually, owing the brewery a lot of money apparently, and the building is now a children's nursery.
Ron it is quite interesting that Liberal clubs were established by Gladstone probably one of the few British prime ministers respected in Ireland. My Grandfather can remember the conservative clubs in south Wales in the 1950’s and 1960’s he says back then Welsh Tories branded themselves as independents.
Oscar
I remember Youngers No 3. Not as long ago as the 70s though. When did Youngers No 1 disappear? That was definitely history by the early 80s.
Ah the memories. In the mid 1970s I moved back to Newcastle for a while before heading for Australia and used to drink at a couple of clubs at Blucher and Lemington. Being an early member of CAMRA I perceived Newcastle to be pretty much a beer desert with the occasional 80/- popping up on hand pump and a sole Sam Smiths house in town with Old Brewery bitter on electric pump.
The Northern Clubs Federation Brewery at Dunston was a major competitor to S & N and I was quite pleased with their tank beers that were far smoother, fresher and tastier than the dreadful kegs of the era.
The Fed Special was similar to Newcastle Exhibition but a lot paler, their "ordinary" was even paler but referred to as "scotch" by the oldies. They had a standard weak lager "Ace" on keg and a decent canning line so most of their beers were also available in selected off licences as well, handy to take home or on camping trips.
My main interest in the clubs apart from the cheap beer was dominos!
On a trip back in 2000 I found that they were now supplying many pubs with Fed beers including a strong LCL Pils on keg, as well as a bottled competitor to Newcastle Brown called "High Level" which was quite tasty, in clear glass pint bottles and obviously a word play on the High Level bridge as opposed to the Tyne Bridge that appears on Newcastle Brown labels.
Then Newcastle Breweries moved out, took over the Fed brewery then closed it down so that was the end of the line for specially brewed clubs beers.
LCL got sold off the Thwaites but after their main brewery was demolished I think they have been nobbled by Marstons nowadays and like other breweries have become basically pub estate owners.
Martsons are terrible.
Oscar
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