‘All sorts happens here’: the battle to save a beloved Manchester social club

In a sprawling white building in the south Manchester suburb of Whalley Range, dozens of people – some barely out of their teens, others well into retirement – are gathered around tables, heads together, scribbling answers on to quiz sheets.

In another room, an art class is under way, while elsewhere in the building, which stands on a residential street, a group are slouched across battered leather sofas, watching Manchester City take on Inter Milan in the Champions League.

This is the Carlton Club, a community space that has existed in this spot for more than a century – first as a private members’ club, but now operated as a community interest company (CIC).

“Before I came here, I knew about six neighbours by name,” Joy Wales, 70, said. “I now know 250.”

However, the future of the club in its current form looks uncertain, after an eviction notice was served on the CIC that runs its busy social calendar.

The beauty of the Carlton Club, according to its regulars, is that everyone is welcome. Students, parents with children, pensioners, all come here – and often all at the same time.

The building, Rowan Lodge, is owned by Carlton Social and Bowling Club Building Company Ltd; set up in 1913, its stated purpose is to provide a building for the club.

Meanwhile, the day-to-day operations of the club are run by Carlton Social and Bowling Club CIC, the community interest company that is the new iteration of what used to be the private members’ club.

Both run by local people, the two have coexisted for 111 years, but now the building company has served an eviction notice on the CIC. Members of the CIC say they understand the building company intends to run its own business from the site.

While, under company law, the members believe the building company directors can only use Rowan Lodge to house a social club, they still fear the future of this much-loved community hub is in jeopardy.

Several of tonight’s quizzers are wearing “Save Our Club” slogan T-shirts, while posters on the walls of the building advertise fundraising events. The CIC has pledged to fight the eviction, and is raising funds for a legal challenge.

“There’s all sorts that happens here: we’ve got a community garden, which is used and maintained by members of the club,” Justin Anderson, the acting chair of the CIC, said. Health and wellbeing sessions are run there, he added, to benefit people with mild depression.

“There’s pilates, there’s a book club, there’s a backgammon club on a Monday night. There’s been philosophy groups here, there’s dance fitness, there’s club nights, there’s live music nights, we have regular bands that play,” he added. “It’s a thriving community asset, it really is.”

Since the campaign to save the club was launched in August, a petition to “save our club” has garnered almost 7,000 signatures, and a crowdfunding page to support any upcoming legal costs has raised almost £21,000.

The support, Anderson said, has been “fantastic, and I think it reinforces that we’ve got this place right, we’ve made it work”.

While many hospitality venues have yet to fully recover from Covid, here, Anderson said, the pandemic had the opposite effect: people who were spending more time in their local area walked past the club with its outside seating, and came in for the first time.

Just over a decade ago, there were only 70 or 80 members, and younger people barely came through the doors. Its membership now stands at almost 1,100, spanning generations.

“They’re good for the music, they’re good for art, spoken word; it’s good beer, we’ve got a beautiful garden,” Louis Kent, 24, said. “There’s just so much that appeals so much to young people around here.”

“I think it’s a really important community asset that appeals to a huge, wide range of the local community,” Luke Williams, who is in his 50s, said. “There’s all sorts of nights out, days out, classes, for everybody.”

“We’ve only lived here for four years and it’s been a real help in getting to know loads of people,” he added.

Sacha Lord, the night-time economy adviser to the mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, is supporting the campaign and has contributed to the fundraiser.

“In terms of serving ‘the community’, the Carlton Club is one of the most perfect examples across Greater Manchester,” he said. “It has a diverse offering that stems past being just a pub, just a club: it is the beating heart of Whalley Range …

”I will stand with and work with the team at the Carlton Club, to ensure the heart of the community isn’t ripped out.”

Wales said: “I think every small community needs a place for local people to get together, to get to know each other.

“Everybody’s welcome. That’s what we need to keep the community together, especially in these times.”

“I’m not moving from my flat,” she added. “I’m going to be really old, and therefore vulnerable, and I’ll feel safe with this place around me.”