{"product_id":"clubland-how-the-working-mens-club-shaped-britain","title":"Clubland : How the Working Men's Club Shaped Britain","description":"\u003cp\u003e Author(s): Brown, Pete \u003cbr\u003e Binding: Paperback, \u003cbr\u003e Date of Publication: 08\/06\/2023,\u003cbr\u003e Pagination: 320 pages,\u003cbr\u003e ISBN13\\EAN\\SKU: 9780008457570,\u003cbr\u003e Description: \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe untold story of a British institution\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e 'Brilliant.' Alan Johnson\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e  'Compelling.' David Kynaston\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e  'The beer drinkers' Bill Bryson.' Times Literary Supplement\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e  Ferment Magazine's Best Beer Book of the Year\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e  Pete Brown is a convivial guide on this journey through the intoxicating history of the working men's clubs. From the movement's founding by teetotaller social reformer the Reverend Henry Solly to the booze-soaked mid-century heyday, when more than 7 million Brits were members, this warm-hearted and entertaining book reveals how and why the clubs became the cornerstone of Britain's social life - offering much more than cheap Federation Bitter and chicken in a basket.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Often dismissed as relics of a bygone age - bastions of bigotry and racism - Brown reminds us that long before the days of Phoenix Nights, 3,000-seat venues routinely played host to stars like Shirley Bassey, Louis Armstrong, and the Bee Gees, offering entertainment for all the family, and close to home at that. Britain's best-known comedians made reputations through a thick miasma of smoke, from Sunniside to Skegness. For a young man growing up in the pit town of Barnsley this was a radiant wonderland that transformed those who entered.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Brown explores the clubs' role in defining masculinity, community and class identity for generations of men in Britain's industrial towns. They were, at their best, a vehicle for social mobility and self-improvement, run as cooperatives for working people by working people: an informal, community-owned pre-cursor to the Welfare State.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e As the movement approaches its 160th anniversary, this exuberant book brings to life the thrills and the spills of a cultural phenomenon that might still be rescued from irrelevance.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Griffin Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43101229875244,"sku":"9780008457570","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0379\/1365\/7388\/files\/9780008457570.jpg?v=1713007155","url":"https:\/\/www.griffinbooksonline.co.uk\/products\/clubland-how-the-working-mens-club-shaped-britain","provider":"Griffin Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}