{"id":47,"date":"2026-08-02T12:59:04","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T12:59:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/burnhopeheritagetrail.co.uk\/?page_id=47"},"modified":"2026-08-19T12:52:06","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T12:52:06","slug":"6-working-mens-club-1899","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/burnhopeheritagetrail.co.uk\/?page_id=47","title":{"rendered":"6. Working Men\u2019s Club\u00a01899"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"831\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/burnhopeheritagetrail.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Working-Mens-Institute-1-831x1024.png\" alt=\"Working Men's Institute\" class=\"wp-image-231\" srcset=\"https:\/\/burnhopeheritagetrail.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Working-Mens-Institute-1-831x1024.png 831w, https:\/\/burnhopeheritagetrail.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Working-Mens-Institute-1-244x300.png 244w, https:\/\/burnhopeheritagetrail.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Working-Mens-Institute-1-768x946.png 768w, https:\/\/burnhopeheritagetrail.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Working-Mens-Institute-1.png 1130w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 831px) 100vw, 831px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 1899 the Working Men\u2019s Club was built and given to the miners by the mine owners. In 1902 it became affiliated to the Working Men\u2019s Club and Institute Union, with Mr. J. Johnson as Honorary Secretary. Thomas Johnson (b. 1906) wrote in his memoirs \u201cWhen I reached the age of eighteen I was able to become a member of the working men\u2019s club, and it was very nice on a winter\u2019s evening to go there and have a cup of Bovril with biscuits.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/burnhopeheritagetrail.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Working-Mens-Club-1-1024x768.png\" alt=\"Working Men's Club\" class=\"wp-image-224\" srcset=\"https:\/\/burnhopeheritagetrail.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Working-Mens-Club-1-1024x768.png 1024w, https:\/\/burnhopeheritagetrail.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Working-Mens-Club-1-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/burnhopeheritagetrail.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Working-Mens-Club-1-768x576.png 768w, https:\/\/burnhopeheritagetrail.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Working-Mens-Club-1.png 1448w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It was a place for meetings, playing cards, dominoes etc., for the miners to relax and socialise, and also where trips for families to the seaside were organised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 1946 the Working Men\u2019s Club was taken over by its members. In the 1960\u2019s it was sold into private ownership and became \u201cThe Wishing Well.\u201d<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"643\" height=\"473\" src=\"\" alt=\"Image\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A thriving social scene blossomed throughout and was popular with its own resident compere and such was its popularity some called it the \u201cMecca of the North.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Burnhope residents Derek Coates and Jim Bradley both played in bands at the club.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Wishing Well \u2013 or Bottom Club \u2013 had a dance floor, snug, bar and balcony, and had a night club atmosphere. Today the site is abandoned, after the club was destroyed by fire and subsequently demolished. All that remains (2026) are the wrought iron gates to the car park, standing at the corner of Co-operative Terrace and The Avenue, enclosing a weed ridden square with some hard standing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In 1899 the Working Men\u2019s Club was built and given to the miners by the mine owners. In 1902 it [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":6,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-47","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/burnhopeheritagetrail.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/47","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/burnhopeheritagetrail.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/burnhopeheritagetrail.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/burnhopeheritagetrail.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/burnhopeheritagetrail.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/burnhopeheritagetrail.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/47\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":233,"href":"https:\/\/burnhopeheritagetrail.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/47\/revisions\/233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/burnhopeheritagetrail.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}