The history of working men’s clubs

Before clubs there were pubs and the leisurely activity of drinking in a tavern or public/ale house was popular throughout Great Britain. Although pubs were frequented by people across the class divide, much of the writing about drinking in public houses carried a patronising tone in regards to working class drinkers, implying they were less civilised and more inclined to succumb to the temptations of alcohol than those deemed socially superior to them. 

From the mid nineteenth century, inspired by the popularity of ‘Gentlemen’s Clubs’ and in an attempt to curtail and control the leisure activities of the working class, the Working Men’s Club was born. 

The Club and Institute Union (CIU) formed shortly after in 1862 and was “for the purpose of helping Working Men to establish Clubs or Institutes where they can meet for conversation, business and mental improvement, with the means of recreation and refreshment” according to T G Ashplant in Popular Culture and Class Conflict, 1590-1914. 

Ruth Cherrington’s excellent book Not Just Beer and Bingo! A Social History of Working Men’s Clubs sums up the motives of club formation as follows: “With a moral panic about drink and the genuine desire of working men to have their own leisure spaces, WMCs appeared as a good compromise… Temperance campaigners wanted to eliminate intoxicating liquor.”