I've been waiting a long time to see this place, it's a good 3 hour drive from home and last time I was in the area it was annoyingly sealed up!
Club life was a big part of peoples lives in the North east. I've got family that used to use this club and I've been told you had to get there by 6pm if you wanted a seat for the evening. The club boasted some 1700 members in the 50's, if you think about it that's a lot of people using one club, especially when somewhere as small as Easington had the Miner's welfare and colliery official's club just down the road.
This was a bigish club, with a gent's lounge, main bar, mixed bar, concert room, meeting rooms for societies etc and a large living space for the steward. Looking at the building it would appear it went the way of lots of clubs I've explored. Little modernization, large portions of the building being little used for the past 20 years, dated decor etc.
In a way it's quite sad to see these places in this state. There seemed to be more to these institutions than sitting in rows watching average cabaret (which is my own memories of social club nights). Charity work, care for aged members, sporting and games, children's outings to name but a few
The wallpaper had peeled off here revealing a nice hand written sign
If this had been in Brum I'm sure the graffiti artist would have drawn on that poicture... is there respect for the pits by the youth around these parts?!
It would seem this was originally a balcony leading from the committee room looking over the concert room, the installation of a new ceiling in the 70's spoiling the view somewhat!
Club life was a big part of peoples lives in the North east. I've got family that used to use this club and I've been told you had to get there by 6pm if you wanted a seat for the evening. The club boasted some 1700 members in the 50's, if you think about it that's a lot of people using one club, especially when somewhere as small as Easington had the Miner's welfare and colliery official's club just down the road.
This was a bigish club, with a gent's lounge, main bar, mixed bar, concert room, meeting rooms for societies etc and a large living space for the steward. Looking at the building it would appear it went the way of lots of clubs I've explored. Little modernization, large portions of the building being little used for the past 20 years, dated decor etc.
In a way it's quite sad to see these places in this state. There seemed to be more to these institutions than sitting in rows watching average cabaret (which is my own memories of social club nights). Charity work, care for aged members, sporting and games, children's outings to name but a few
The wallpaper had peeled off here revealing a nice hand written sign
If this had been in Brum I'm sure the graffiti artist would have drawn on that poicture... is there respect for the pits by the youth around these parts?!
It would seem this was originally a balcony leading from the committee room looking over the concert room, the installation of a new ceiling in the 70's spoiling the view somewhat!
