[gordon_brittas]

Just heard it closes next week permanently for good?wow?
They will be nothing left the way its going sadly.

[Johnnyspireite7]

If no one frequents the establishment and it's not making money then there's no wonder, people have stopped going to pubs & clubs like these for years because of the greedy breweries with the prices going up and up and it was exacerbated by the Covid pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns.

[Misnomer]

That's a big shame. My late dad's stomping ground; committee member and Labour parish councillor.

[Misnomer]

 Johnnyspireite7, on 22 December 2024 - 02:40 PM, said:

If no one frequents the establishment and it's not making money then there's no wonder, people have stopped going to pubs & clubs like these for years because of the greedy breweries with the prices going up and up and it was exacerbated by the Covid pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns.

Can I say, you wouldn't find a cheaper pint, than in a club like Brim club or The Railway, down the road. So, you might want to rethink the reason.

Both places were there for local workers. Those workforces have since disappeared into oblivion, replaced by large warehouses and housing. The clubs have hung on as long as they can; the generations who frequented them, slowly passing. It's the death and demise of a working life that once was. Those two clubs were amazing community hubs for local families.

This post has been edited by Misnomer: 27 December 2024 - 12:15 PM

[clarevoyant.]

The only times I visited Brim Club was to have a chat with the Chesterfield Sunday League disciplinary committee.

[The Earl of Chesterfield]

Can only speak for my local club, but it's twenty short years since folk had to queue Friday, Sat'di and Sunday neets to get a seat.

Sunday dinner was rammed too, whilst Sat'di dinners also attracted a vibrant crowd.

Indeed there was always someone in throughout the week.

But those session drinkers died out. Literally. Blokes who'd down double figures several times a week. Youngsters weren't interested in the cultishly attended bingo, either. People in general began drinking less and at home. Or in more comfortable pubs-come-restaurants. Or in discounted town centre outlets.

To the point the Derby Road that used to boast five lively pubs all within five or so minutes walking distance from one another now has none. Just a modern 'bar' serving sophisticated snacks and expensive European lagers.

Cultures change and societies evolve. Dun't make the loss of these bastions of communities any easier to witness, though...

[Paragon of Virtue]

Places which serve the same lagers that you can buy in the supermarket for less than a quid a can will always struggle in this day and age. People want to go out but they also want their money's worth, that's why the real ale pubs and the spoons in town are always busy.

On one hand you have good ales for very reasonable prices, on the other you have the cheapest beers in town, who won't be beat.

I notice Hasland club does well, with a good range of cask ales.

[Paragon of Virtue]

 gordon_brittas, on 22 December 2024 - 02:04 PM, said:

Just heard it closes next week permanently for good?wow?
They will be nothing left the way its going sadly.

Blame the supermarkets

[Holmesc1]

 Paragon of Virtue, on 27 December 2024 - 04:22 PM, said:

Places which serve the same lagers that you can buy in the supermarket for less than a quid a can will always struggle in this day and age. People want to go out but they also want their money's worth, that's why the real ale pubs and the spoons in town are always busy.

On one hand you have good ales for very reasonable prices, on the other you have the cheapest beers in town, who won't be beat.

I notice Hasland club does well, with a good range of cask ales.

And that is something that is overlooked. Whats the appeal of going out if all you have to drink is run of the mill stuff like carling, john smiths, strongbow etc, the stuff you can get cheap in cans or at chain pubs. Hasland actually does stuff you dont see in cans and bottles in supermarkets like lukas

[Holmesc1]

 The Earl of Chesterfield, on 27 December 2024 - 03:26 PM, said:

Can only speak for my local club, but it's twenty short years since folk had to queue Friday, Sat'di and Sunday neets to get a seat.

Sunday dinner was rammed too, whilst Sat'di dinners also attracted a vibrant crowd.

Indeed there was always someone in throughout the week.

But those session drinkers died out. Literally. Blokes who'd down double figures several times a week. Youngsters weren't interested in the cultishly attended bingo, either. People in general began drinking less and at home. Or in more comfortable pubs-come-restaurants. Or in discounted town centre outlets.

To the point the Derby Road that used to boast five lively pubs all within five or so minutes walking distance from one another now has none. Just a modern 'bar' serving sophisticated snacks and expensive European lagers.

Cultures change and societies evolve. Dun't make the loss of these bastions of communities any easier to witness, though...

That modern bar you mention must be the birdcage as there is nowhere else around is hardly killing off places, nothing else existed before that and its those sophisticated foreign lagers that keep it going, stuff even the supermarkets dont sell. It really no more expensive than town and that awful boythorpe

[Valley Blues]

Odd places, local working men?s clubs. If it?s still permitted to call them that.

Most definitely a big part of villages up and down the country and somewhere I have enjoyed myself, both as a kid growing up and then as an adult.

But they could certainly be places to make an unknown face feel awkward and uncomfortable.

Not necessarily in a threat of violence kinda way. Just a sense that you didn?t belong in there.

I recall calling in the club in South Normanton after footballing that way a number of years back.

Firstly we sat in the wrong place, then we were railroaded into buying bingo cards after a couple of attempts to decline the offer and the final straw was my mate winning the full house on the final game which was actually a small fortune 20 years ago.

His winnings were literally slammed on the table in front of us.

I?ve no doubt the welfare I supped in was no different but may go a small way into explaining why many of these places have closed their doors over the past couple of decades.

They had no intention of embracing change or welcoming in fresh blood and custom, unless either living on or related to someone who lived on that particular manor.

A sad decline but somewhat inevitable.

[Mr Mercury]

 Valley Blues, on 28 December 2024 - 10:55 AM, said:

Odd places, local working men?s clubs. If it?s still permitted to call them that.

Most definitely a big part of villages up and down the country and somewhere I have enjoyed myself, both as a kid growing up and then as an adult.

But they could certainly be places to make an unknown face feel awkward and uncomfortable.

Not necessarily in a threat of violence kinda way. Just a sense that you didn?t belong in there.

I recall calling in the club in South Normanton after footballing that way a number of years back.

Firstly we sat in the wrong place, then we were railroaded into buying bingo cards after a couple of attempts to decline the offer and the final straw was my mate winning the full house on the final game which was actually a small fortune 20 years ago.

His winnings were literally slammed on the table in front of us.

I?ve no doubt the welfare I supped in was no different but may go a small way into explaining why many of these places have closed their doors over the past couple of decades.

They had no intention of embracing change or welcoming in fresh blood and custom, unless either living on or related to someone who lived on that particular manor.

A sad decline but somewhat inevitable.

I think you?ve just described Blackwell Welfare to a T. And woe betide any no Welfare regular who dare go on the fruit machines, let alone win. People would actually put machine in use signs on if they left in for a few mins to use the loo or go to the bar.
Blackwell Hotel used to be my local and you were either an Hotel or Welfare drinker, very rarely venturing to the other.

[Valley Blues]

 Mr Mercury, on 28 December 2024 - 11:25 AM, said:

I think you?ve just described Blackwell Welfare to a T. And woe betide any no Welfare regular who dare go on the fruit machines, let alone win. People would actually put machine in use signs on if they left in for a few mins to use the loo or go to the bar.
Blackwell Hotel used to be my local and you were either an Hotel or Welfare drinker, very rarely venturing to the other.

I think they were all the same.

Bottom line was they didn?t really want anyone in who wasn?t part of their little community and eventually it was going to contribute towards their downfall.

Sticking your way, I see the club at Westhouses is shut now too. And the boozer opposite.

[clarevoyant.]

 Valley Blues, on 28 December 2024 - 11:47 AM, said:

I think they were all the same.

Bottom line was they didn?t really want anyone in who wasn?t part of their little community and eventually it was going to contribute towards their downfall.

Sticking your way, I see the club at Westhouses is shut now too. And the boozer opposite.

Was in one club, to see a group, at the break the women played bingo me and my mate went for a slash whilst washing our hands I got a tap on the shoulder with the following conversation:-
Bloke "if tha wins flyer tha can't claim it."
Me -"why"
Bloke - "tha not a member"
Me- "how do you know"
Bloke- "members don't wash their hands in here"

[Mr Mercury]

 Valley Blues, on 28 December 2024 - 11:47 AM, said:

I think they were all the same.

Bottom line was they didn?t really want anyone in who wasn?t part of their little community and eventually it was going to contribute towards their downfall.

Sticking your way, I see the club at Westhouses is shut now too. And the boozer opposite.

The Stations been shut a few years now, used to go in quite a bit when it had a big fanfare re opening late 80s. It affectionately became known as the Dagmar, or the Dag, due to it opening at the same time as the aforementioned rival to the Queen Vic in Eastenders, and being, for a short time at least, a rival to the Hotel.

[JonB]

Spent many a Saturday/Sunday evening in Clay Cross Miners Welfare after playing cricket next door on Sharley Park until we managed to have a small bar in the pavilion instead. Welfare was going slowly downhill for a while and went through a few incarnations of attempts to use it none of which seemed to do that well.

Was always a laugh back in the day though with some varied acts and making sure we didn?t disrupt the bingo. The look on some of the blokes faces from posh south Derbyshire village teams that we played when they got a telling off from some local old lady if they made too much noise during the bingo was always funny.

[Misnomer]

 Paragon of Virtue, on 27 December 2024 - 04:22 PM, said:

Places which serve the same lagers that you can buy in the supermarket for less than a quid a can will always struggle in this day and age. People want to go out but they also want their money's worth, that's why the real ale pubs and the spoons in town are always busy.

On one hand you have good ales for very reasonable prices, on the other you have the cheapest beers in town, who won't be beat.

I notice Hasland club does well, with a good range of cask ales.

Brim club always had a decent selection of cask ales, alongside the run of the mill glucose syrup crap.

[ash_cfc]

I run the football club with a mate out of Hasland Club so I?m probably biased but it?s absolutely sound in there. Cheaper drinks for members. Regular bands, tributes & events on. The pulldown projector for the football is absolutely huge. Pool table & snooker tables upstairs which aren?t expensive. Variety of ale choices and most importantly it?s very very rare there are any dickheads in.

[Holmesc1]

 ash_cfc, on 28 December 2024 - 02:39 PM, said:

I run the football club with a mate out of Hasland Club so I?m probably biased but it?s absolutely sound in there. Cheaper drinks for members. Regular bands, tributes & events on. The pulldown projector for the football is absolutely huge. Pool table & snooker tables upstairs which aren?t expensive. Variety of ale choices and most importantly it?s very very rare there are any dickheads in.

Yeah im a member but not been up past weeks due to weather and been hungover sundays and been at real time live when they have had bands on. Enjoy the thornbridge beers and lager in there and yeah been some good bands on in the past. Its good they get young lads in, unlike alot of clubs who struggle to get folk under 50 in. I think whats in haslands favour is it aint ciu and it not associated with any long gone heavy industry or political party

[Holmesc1]

I can definitely tell a few tales about working mens clubs as my dad worked in them alot during his time in band. It was a long night for band and you had to tread carefully with auckward little hitlers. They were going great guns when heavy industry existed but coupled with the decline in that and robbers on the comittee not the case now, there decline started way before smoking ban. What you have now is clubs full of ageing bone idol comittee men who just go down the easy route of using club for private hire instead of getting entertainment on and also alot of clubs are tied to buying crap drink due to getting tied to breweries after comittee men taking back handers. Of course there the bingo and other drawn out games. I recall the heaton buffs club in Newcastle, bingo, play your cards right etc went on for a hour whilst folk brought out there own buffets supping some of the worst booze going. I would go down the nearby wetherspoons where you were actually allowed to talk and have a few pints and return for second half, at another club on gateshead i would go home for a hour whilst bingo was on. No wonder. No youngs un went! Of course bingo could be done midweek or even a hour before band but the old farts hate change. Another tough thing was any new blood wanting to get on board faced a uphill struggle from little hitlers who again hated change. A bloke 50 would be young on alot of comittees. Hasland and clubs ive done in barnsley seem to be moving with the times mind. Sadly most aint and the comittee would rather see them shut than be prepared for change and then just put all blame on government and lack of younger members.