Working Men’s Club could ditch the word ‘men’ from its title over fears it puts off women from attending

• Cleethorpes Working Men’s club in Lincolnshire lost 60 to 70 per cent in takings

A working men’s club is considering ditching the word ‘men’ to stay relevant amid declining numbers.

Cleethorpes Working Men’s club in Lincolnshire said the name could put women off attending.

Britain’s working men’s clubs have been a feature in town’s a cities around the countries for decades, providing cheap drinks for their members.

But the number of venues represented by the Club & Institute Union is in sharp decline, figures show.

Luke Steer, 37, one of two brothers working to keep the Cleethorpes club open, said the popularity of ‘man caves’ constructed at people’s own homes – in huge numbers during lockdown – had contributed to a fall in members.

Luke, his brother Tom, who is vice president, and their 70-year-old father Pat, the current president – told the BBC they may need to consider changes to stay afloat.

Cleethorpes Working Men’s club in Lincolnshire said the name could put women off attending

Tom said: ‘The whole ‘working men’s’ thing might be putting some women off.’ 

Luke said: ‘We will fight to the bitter end.’ 

Cleethorpes Working Men’s Club started life as a Royal British Legion club in the 1950s, before morphing into a working men’s club in the 1990s.

But, like many others, is facing extinction, with eight regulars having passed away in recent years.

Luke said: ‘This club has lost some big-hitters. Guys would tend to stay here all day, enjoying a few drinks.

‘Nowadays, people have their man caves. They buy their beer cheaply from supermarkets.’ 

His brother Tom Steer, 34, the club’s vice president said: ‘Clubs like this are a dying breed.’ 

A recent online fundraising appeal which was set up to buy the committee some extra time generated £4,000 in just a few days.

Working Men’s clubs helped start the careers of some of the country’s best known stars such as Les Dawson

‘Without that, we’d have closed by Christmas,’ Tom said. 

‘People ask us, ‘Is it really that bad?’ We’re doing all we can, but they need to come down and support the club.’ 

The club has a number of drinks deals and a weekly ‘curry and pint night’ and also puts on local bands but the brothers know they can’t compete with the supermarkets on prices.

Mandy Allison, the secretary and bar manager, said takings had dropped between 60-70 percent in the past year alone.

‘I’ve been here eight years and never known it this bad,’ she told the BBC.

Statistics show the situation in Cleethorpes is one which is echoed around the country.

During their heyday in the 1970s, the Club & Institute Union (CIU) represented about 4,500 such venues with an estimated four million members. 

They also helped start the careers of some of the country’s best known stars such as Cannon & Ball, Les Dawson, Little & Large and Marti Caine as well as Dame Vera Lynn who first sang, aged seven, at the Dagenham Working Men’s Club in 1924.

Dame Vera Lynn first sang, aged seven, at the Dagenham Working Men’s Club in 1924 (Pictured: Vera Lynn with British servicemen during World War II)

But across Yorkshire and the Humber, the number of licensed clubs – which includes working men’s clubs, social clubs and nightclubs -has fallen by a quarter in the past decade.

There were 755 clubs as of March 2023, a fall of 25% from March 2013 when there were 1,005, according to the Office for National Statistics.

In April, members voted to remove reference to ‘working men’ from the title of the Working Men’s Club and Institute Union.

Ken Green, general secretary of the now called Club & Institute Union, said only around 40 per cent of members still call themselves working men’s clubs.

‘I can see why it could be off-putting to women,’ he said.

Mr Green said the Covid pandemic served as the final nail in the coffin for many clubs.

‘A lot of members got used to staying at home and not socialising,’ he said.

‘I also think the younger element now go out once a week, on a Friday night, and blow £100. In my younger years, I was at the club five times a week.’ 

Last year, Knott End Working Men’s Club members voted to change its name. The club in Lancashire is now known as Knott End Sports and Social Club.

And earlier this year, Starbeck Working Men’s Club in Harrogate changed its name to the more ‘family friendly’ Forest Club.

Club secretary Catriona Patterson said at the time: ‘People have an image of what a Working Men’s Club is, and we’re not that – we’re trying to distance ourselves from it.’ 

She said the name change was a response to a wider cultural shift that has seen many licensed premises – including Working Men’s Clubs – fall victim to the growing trend for home drinking. 

‘There isn’t a Working Men’s Club in the country that isn’t struggling, and we need to attract younger members. A name-change will help bring us into a new era,’ she said.

The Forest Club’s name change reflects its location in the ancient Forest of Knaresborough. 

The club followed others in the town, including Bilton Working Men’s Club which is now simply Bilton Club, and High Harrogate Working Men’s Club which is now High Harrogate Bar and Lounge.

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