Pubs V Clubs - Are you a club memeber?

[The Raillys]

I got asked at work today if we have joined any local clubs.

I responded "Yes, my husband and I do Park run most Saturdays and my husband has joined the local cycling club for a couple of rides and I am thinking about joining too."

but the response I got was "What about for cheap nights out?"

 

The response slightly surprised me and I started to realise that Member clubs in the UK are very different to Members clubs here. (or maybe I just lived in inner city London and the concept had never occurred to me)

 

My understanding of a Members club in London was generally a slightly elite venue that did not want riff raff in their establishment. Or an venue that was trying to get around a alcohol licence by making it members only.

 

However here in Australia a members club seems to be a more charitable, operating not for profit and supporting the local community or a particular sport.

 

Is it the Australian thing to do to join your local club even if you may not have an interest in the sport it supports?

I would be interested to here if you have paid your membership fee and if you go regularly or join in activities.

 

Close to where I live is mainly Taverns not clubs, so maybe I am excused for not understanding the significants of a club.

Or did you have similar clubs back in the UK?

Edited February 17, 2017 by The Raillys

[Skani]

However here in Australia a members club seems to be a more charitable, operating not for profit and supporting the local community or a particular sport.

 

 

I think it is more a case of "here in some states" - those being the rugby league states (NSW, Queensland and ACT) where the league clubs seem to have a very active empire of social clubs used for cheap nights out. They certainly don't exist here in Tassie and I've never been conscious of them in S.A. or Victoria either

[northshorepom]

 

My understanding of a Members club in London was generally a slightly elite venue that did not want riff raff in their establishment. Or an venue that was trying to get around a alcohol licence by making it members only.

 

However here in Australia a members club seems to be a more charitable, operating not for profit and supporting the local community or a particular sport.

 

People from most places outside the SE of England would be familiar with the concept of a club as it exists in Australia - be it Working Men's Club, or a sports oriented club, or sometimes an ethnically oriented one

 

The London "Members' club" is a very different beast as you have correctly identified. This sort of place has its analogues in Australia as well, in the form of exclusive country clubs and the like, but there aren't many of them

 

Part of the reason for clubs' continuing existence is that they have traditionally taken the place of pubs as social meeting places, generally in places subject to restrictive licensing laws. This applies to most of Australia (Here in NSW pubs had to close at 6pm until the 1950s - clubs were exempt from about the 1930s - and you couldn't have an on-license without also serving food and providing accommodation, hence the environment of a smallish number of big pubs called "hotels" at all until 2005 (!- yes really!)

 

If you want a UK based example, look at somewhere like Wales. Most places in Wales were dry on Sundays until relatively recently due to strong Baptist & other Temperance influence, the last district to go "wet" wasn't until about 2000. Again, clubs were exempt, so everyone drank in the rugby club. When I lived in Wales (& played rugby) in the 1990s, the "club" was the mainstay of the village social life, especially on Sundays, because even though our district was not dry, there was such a long cultural tradition of people going to the club and there being entertainment etc on Sundays that it had stuck

 

As to the other part of your question, yes I joined one club, our local RSL, because it's quite handy for visitors etc as it does good tapas and afternoon teas and has some OK entertainment on. Only go maybe twice a year. I am a member of a couple of sporting clubs (cycling, running, rugby veterans) but these are strictly sporting affairs, they don't have premises, so it's not really related to your Q

[Guest The Pom Queen]

I am a member of a few RSL's and Brothers League clubs, I don't drink but they often have good food or entertainment. Membership isn't steep usually $10 a year.