Has Sheffield ever had what I would describe as an old school style of Gentlemens private club'? I mean by this, not a lap top club or anything connected remotely with girls on a pole, but one of those grand places you see sometimes in old British films of the 60's and 70's, whereby you pay a huge annual membership fee to be a member of an elitist collection of individuals, sitting around in private leather sofa crammed ornate lounges, served by butlers with drinks trays, and 'messengers' running about bringing you telephones and books from the clubs library, etc.

The phrase "have lunch at my club" and "have you seen Lord Watling or Sir Twit this week?" sort of place. I would guess Sheffield has never been graced with any such establishments, but having such a rich industrial past, at one time this city, say around 1900, would have been full of wealthy industrialists building huge houses in the West of Sheffield, and maybe would have had an exclusive private members 'london style' club?

If not we should perhaps start one up.

Have you seen the subscriptions people pay?

A couple of years ago I had an invite from a club in London to consider being a member there. Even for 'out of towners' it was GBP700 a year aith GBP300 'start up' fee.

The facilities looked good but weren't outstanding - they didn't offer what would have been most useful for me at that time - overnight accomodation.

Joe

I think the cutlers hall in the industrial age was a bit of an old blokes sort of place. All the master cutlers would go there for chat and such.

I have always found the idea of growing old in an oak-panelled, claret-scented room foggy with cigar smoke to be strangely attractive. I would like to sink into a large leather armchair with my newspaper of choice, my only taxing decision being whether to choose the beef wellington or the pork crown roast. Ancient books would line the shelves, elderly butlers would circulate in the shadows, and I would drift off to sleep around 11.30 with gravy-coloured dribble staining my napkin.

I regularly walk past the Athenaeum club in Liverpool and imagine it to precisely mimic the above-described scene. However, I see from their website that ladies are permitted to be members. I see no need for that in this day and age.

http://www.athena.force9.co.uk/intro.htm

Originally posted by Damon
I have always found the idea of growing old in an oak-panelled, claret-scented room foggy with cigar smoke to be strangely attractive. I would like to sink into a large leather armchair with my newspaper of choice, my only taxing decision being whether to choose the beef wellington or the pork crown roast. Ancient books would line the shelves, elderly butlers would circulate in the shadows, and I would drift off to sleep around 11.30 with gravy-coloured dribble staining my napkin.


Me too, the most ENORMOUS Cuban imported cigar is an ESSENTIAL item, should be at least 12 inches in length and 3 inches round, plus of course, arguing with the Butler about the fact the wine cellar is out of stock (temporarily of course) of the 1929 Chateau Delboy Le Rodders, etc. Oh, yes, an ENORMOUS menu all in French with starters from just £50 per prawn!!

One would flick ones fingers amod the Cuban cigar smoke and a butler would appear out of the mist with silver tray, telephone on mile long extension cable, and a copy of Burkes peerage so one could look up the pedigree of Colonel Blyth-Tompson-Smith, a large handlebar moustached chap in a shooting jacket reclining in opposite sofa reading the Sporting Life.

ESSENTIAL conversation topics must be The great British empire and "when I was in India and played golf with the Raja", blended with English cricketing great moments.

Was the Sheffield Club on George Street the sort of place you were referring to? These days I think it's a hotel.

from White's 1919/20 Directory:

The SHEFFIELD CLUB, founded in 1843, has a clubhouse in Norfolk Street. enlarged in 1903-4, and comprises coffee, reading, billiard, private dining, smoking and morning rooms, members bedrooms, &c. S. Robinson, Esq., chairman; Noel W. Burbidge, secretary, Hoole's Chambers, Bank Street; William W. Doubleday, steward.

The SHEFFIELD REFORM CLUB, established in 1885, occupies the principal portion of the Gladstone Buildings, at the corner of Church Street, St. James' Row, and St. James' Street, erected in 1885 by a limited company, at a cost of upwards of £8,000, in the Domestic Gothic style. The building comprises dining, reading, billiard and smoking rooms. In 1905 the whole of the club premises were refurnished and decorated at a cost of £2,000. There are now over 500 members. J.H.Davidson, president; Samuel Osborn, treasurer; Allan Hastings, hon. secretary; J.Stainton, Hallamshire Golf Club, business secretary.

The ATHENAEUM, originally established in 1847, occupies a large building in George Street, rebuilt in 1900. The two societies of which the club formerly consisted were amalgamated Dec. 9th, 1881, under the style of the Sheffield Athenaeum Company Ltd., the capital being £10,000 in £5 shares. The premises comprise a dining room, smoking, chess, billiard and reading rooms, library amd ladies' room. Alfred J. Forsdike, president; C.J. Ward,vice-president; J.J. Parker, hon. secretary; Miss Violet E. Holloway, librarian.

Lots of other social, veterans', and sporting clubs listed.

Hugh

I did some decorating at "The Sheffield Reform Club"round about St James St in 62-3-4-5 not sure of the dates.
Best snooker tables I have ever seen

Goldenfleece and others.
Three cheers-------at last a civilised bunch of people who have got their priorities right !
I agree with everything you have all said about the atmosphere of the old Gentlemen's Clubs. In connection with this does anyone have a yen for the old Parisian -style cafes , you often see in old French films ? The coffee , the wine , the smoke , the white tableclothes , the unhurried , civilised surroundings ; Piaf , or similar , playing in the background ?
I'm afraid , nowadays , the Health and Safety Police , backed up by a SWAT team would probably mount a dawn raid and haul us all off to the Nick.We'd be lucky to escape a custodial sentence if the Gentlemen's Club was within 500 meters of a school ; the cigar smoke could have curled through the area and felled them in one breath.
I think women could be allowed in Gentlemen's Clubs , provide they could prove they weren't Social Workers.

Well said. Lets start a new gentlemens club....I think its a great business proposition actually, SHeffield is NOT all working class and redundant coal/steel workers these days, but a very rich thriving and affluent city full of professionals of all ages, who have NOTHING in the way of a sophisticated club, and especially one that offered "Members private chambers" for those essential city centre overnight stays!!

I think a large membership base from S17. 10 and 11 would be possible, and probably the best feature, the ONLY place in town where you could NOT buy those grotesque Hamlet cigars.


That brings me to another point, on a separate post.....where on earth do you bu yPROPER cigars in Sheffield these days?

The Tontine Inn in Sheffield was built in 1785 and remained a licensed house until 1850. It was where the wealthy townsmen feasted and corporate banquets were held. Its day ended with the formation of the North Midland Railway. It was built on the site of the Castle Barns, just to the east of the Bullstake. It was built with subscriptions from wealthy men.

there was a Gentlemans' club on Marlcliffe Rd, Hillsborough. It had beautiful snooker tables and an assortment of exoctic snuff on the bar. Membership was by recommendation only.

I've always fancied setting up a continental style cafe...perhaps we combine the two. The Parisian or Viennese coffee house, with the newpapers, the journals, the chess game still set up with the last move made in 1999. The players may, after all, come back from the far distant corners of the world where adventure took them.

The club with big roaring fires, a menu that features proper steak and kidney pudding and good stonkingly heavy red wines. Not a smoker myself but those cigars HAVE to be in there! It's an excellent way to keep the PC brigade out.

Joe

Great idea. Must not forget the obligatory "security" gentlemen, usually dressed in brushed red or purple velvet dinner jackets, to keep out the riff-raff and non members. Usually these chaps are very well spoken and educated, but have the strength of ten horses under their good manners and politeness. After all, one does not want the West Street 'element' barging in for their 24th pint of lager and knocking over the chess table and disabling anyones Cuban cigar.......

Originally posted by Jossman
there was a Gentlemans' club on Marlcliffe Rd, Hillsborough. It had beautiful snooker tables and an assortment of exoctic snuff on the bar. Membership was by recommendation only.
Yes my dad was in it, I think it was called Wadsley House social club, and he took me for a drink there on my 18th. I think they had bowling greens and I certainly remember they had lovely gardens in the past and used to do Wedding Receptions, but haven't been around there for years.

Goldenfleece ,
Surely in a well-run Gentlemen's Club , there would be some kind of deadly weapon , placed near the entrance ? This could be on the lines of guns our forebears used , when hunting tigers in India.
Any West Street Person , or indeed , any rough element , who attempted to gain entrance to the premises would be shot on sight and the body [or bodies] , removed by the porter at a convenient moment.
The last thing we want to see is our vintage port being knocked back by lager drinkers in baseball caps or other ruffians of that ilk.

^ May I suggest a 'blunderbuss (http://www.a2armory.com/pirtreas.html)', the large trumpet-ended shotgun contraption as used by irate farmers in the comics of our youth? It should, of course, fire a collection of nuts, bolts and nails rather than your actual bullets.

I would willingly volunteer to yank it from its resting place on the wall above the fireplace and 'prang' the bounders as they clutch their smarting backsides and flee.

Other essentials:

a large clock (Roman Numerals) so that members can take out their pocket-watches and check the time.

A gentleman detective smoking a cigarette in a holder and staring into the distance.

Hugh

Well , yes , Damon , I would think any measure is permissible , if it keeps the great unwashed masses at bay.
I suppose an even greater problem would be when those Viragos of our day , Women Social Workers got to hear of our oasis of peace and tranquillity.They would no doubt storm the fortress with leaflets , pamphlets , resolutions , committees , health warnings , demands for equal access , separate toilet facilities , bans on smoking , strict licencing hours , access for children in areas where no alcohol was to be consumed , play areas , nappy-changing facilities and muzak.
How are the enemy to be engaged ? How would W.C. Fields have dealt with the situation ? Or the Duke of Wellington ? Or Evelyn Waugh ? Obviously one hesitates to maim , in any way , the ,"weaker " sex , but in these days of equal rights , I don't think they can complain , if they too came under fire from the old blunderbuss.A few nuts , bolts and other missiles would certainly give them something to consider and leave them less time for interfering in the lives of English Gentlemen.

Just had a thought :----if all fails and the , "progressives " tighten their grip on our gentlemen's clubs , I suppose we could operate like the old Speakeasies in days of yore in America.
A coded knock at the door , from a white-gloved hand or a cane. The butler approaches from within , removes monocle from pocket , transfers it to eye and peers through Judas Hole.
"Would that be Lord Smythe-de- Tinsley without ?"
"Of course it is , you damned fool , open up and get me a large stiff one ".
Or words to that effect.
The Speakeasies flourished and made vast profits and I'm sure that the combination of subterfuge and respectability would draw gentlemen in their thousands and confound the modernisers in their tracks.

I have a fantastic idea for a TV sitcom based on an old school gentlemens club........ripe for a lot of old school British stiff upper lip jolly good show actors.......Lesley Philips springs to mind as some retired old Colonel, oh, the possibilities here.....unfortunately all the best ones are dead...Terry Thomas....Alistair Sim......etc

I too have always been fascinated by the idea of a (Gentlemen's) Club. So civilised - an oasis of calm, peace and tranquillity amidst the hustle and bustle of everyday life. A place in which to think, nay cogitate, and partake of the finer things in life. To find like-minded personages, with whom one can banter and exchange ideas, but who know when to leave one in peace with a good book.

I've always had this fantasy of sitting quietly reading in a huge leather armchair beside a roaring fire, in the library of a gentleman's club-type establishment, with a grandfather clock ticking sonorously in the background - although time has no meaning in a room such as this.

To be in the world yet not quite of it - existing in a kind of timeless hibernation - ahhh, bliss!

StarSparkle