After over a hundred proud years Barrow's oldest social club is to finally close its doors for the last time. The Railway Club on Barrow's St Georges Square
It was then accommodated in part of the building that was the railway offices in St.George’s Square and the present premises were those of the departure station of the old Furness Railway company, which date back to 1864.
After surviving two world wars and the decline of the railway industry the club has finally hit the buffers.
Ursula the club secretary tells me that unfortunately along with a lot of other local working men’s clubs the place just isn't paying its way.She tells me of a photograph in the club taken of some of its members in its heyday back in 1963, amazingly after 45 years one of those members still pops in for a pint every evening. Lets hope the building itself is preserved, it would be a crying shame to lose this important part of Barrow’s history.
6 comments:
That's a real shame about the Railway club closing, somewhere else 'going to the wall' Isn't one of the clubs in Abbey Road up for Sale too? i seem to remember seeing a sale board on it.Is this a sign of the times, are people drinking more at home now that supermarket alcohol is cheaper? not everyone wants to visit cornwallis street but it may end up with nowhere else to go!!
One thing I like about England is the tradition of clubs and societies it's a shame to lose them.
soon you won't be able to say
goin' down the legion!
The wife drove up to Barrow from our East Lancashire home on Sunday and have to say how sad this is . I used to go in all the old CIU clubs in the town its sad to here of there decline many families used to frequent these clubs on a Sunday which was became a family tradition in the town and lasting friendships where made one example of which is .The wife went was in Barrow last week and and went up to the UNITED for the firs time in 25 years and met some one the family knew from those days
anon: Yes the Engineers club is selling half of their premises, looks bad for the clubs eh!
Roy: Yes at one time you had to wait for someone to die before you could get a membership at these clubs.
John: This time she would have been going into the new United club then bit different and a lot smaller. It used to be the joke that you went in there and some one would say "you can't sit there mate that's ***s seat" and of course later you would find that the person they named had been dead for five years.
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