Not Just Beer and Bingo! A Social History of Working Men’s Clubs

Winning bagatelle team circa late 1950s, Canley Social Club. The author’s father is holding the trophy
Winning bagatelle team circa late 1950s, Canley Social Club

Bishopsgate Institute, 8th October 2013 at 7.30pm

Explore the development of that bastion of the British entertainment scene, the working men’s clubs from the mid-19th century to their current period of decline. Why were they set up? What went on in them? And how did women come to find their own place in them?

Drawing on personal accounts and experiences of those attending the clubs, this talk highlights the major roles they played and what made them such a central part of working class leisure.

Dr Ruth Cherrington attended working men’s clubs from a very young age. She is the author of Not Just Beer and Bingo! A Social History of Working Men’s Clubs and runs a website ‘Club Historians’ dedicated to the history and development of the working men’s club movement.

For booking, please visit the Bishopsgate Institute website

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