Jim Scott’s Notable Architecture
Jim Scott from the North East of England has dedicated quite some time in capturing images of notable architecture from his area.
Jim feels that the sometimes pretentious architecture shouts 'look at me'. He has selected the pictures for online publication because of their place in the history and culture of this area. Jim quite rightly says, "Like many of the pictures on my site, if someone like me doesn't record them now it might be too late".
Below are a few common-sense comments and observations made by Jim which we would like to share with Club Historian visitors
“The 'clerb' was, and is, a source of cheaper drinks and of activities which the normal pub never catered for. In this area they are probably the only place left to play snooker for instance. Bingo was once the sole preserve of the WMC and men could join in without losing face. The big jackpot Fruit Machine also pulled people in. The new era of big money private bingo clubs is attracting younger women and must be damaging the traditional club.
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Clubs in this area seem fairly stable in that I have only been aware of two fairly recent closures: Percy Main, and that was 'strange' in that it was regarded as one of the more profitable in the area, and the Central Club a good many years ago.
However the clientèle that inhabit nearby bus shelters late at night, when the bingo finishes, seem to be of an age that have grown up in the clubs and worked in the now dead industries of the area. Whether there are enough new members to take there place in this era of social ambition is hard to tell, but I doubt it.
This area was always 'overpubbed' so it's no surprise that the weak are going to the wall. I see no significant change due to the smoking ban in my local, but the midweek fall-off seems to be making several pubs close early”.
We would like to thank Jim for sharing his views - which, of course, we fully agree with. Please try and take a look at Jim's website and you'll see what he means about the pretentious designs of the club buildings he's selected.
http://www.jimscot.myby.co.uk/Clubs/Clubs_000_thumbnails.html
