Welcome to Social Club Memories, a celebration of the people, places, stories and memories that made Britain's social clubs such an important part of everyday life.
For generations, social clubs were at the heart of communities across the UK. They could be working men's clubs, miners' institutes, railway clubs, British Legion clubs, political and labour clubs, sports and welfare clubs, or simply the local club where families and friends gathered at the end of the working week.
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The games room, sometimes simply known as the snooker room, was an important part of many British social clubs. Although it was not strictly a room for every game as darts and dominoes were often played in the bar itself, it was here that the snooker, billiard and pool players gathered, and where many teenagers first learned the art of potting a ball.
If the concert room was the noisy heart of the social club, the lounge was almost the forgotten room.
Before the days of fancy food vans and gourmet seafood platters, there was something much simpler and somehow much better… The fish man turning up at the social club with his big wicker basket, calling out to see who fancied a bit of seafood.
For many social and working men's clubs, bingo wasn't simply something that happened at the club, it was one of the main events of the week. By the 1970s, bingo had become deeply woven into club culture. Working men's clubs were important venues for bingo alongside live music, comedy and other evening entertainment. And for some members, it was the reason they came through the doors. For others, it was the bit of the evening they could have happily done without.
