A Brief History of the Club


Wakefield Borough (as it was at that time) Labour Party Club was officially opened on Saturday 24th September 1966 . Since then it has provided a base for the Labour Party and the trade union movement in and around Wakefield , also a meeting place and social club , mainly but not exclusively for Labour Party members .

The idea for the club came in the early 1960s , when the Constituency Labour Party was renting a room at 5 Cheapside . This was costing around £300 per year - a considerable amount in those days and the largest item of expenditure on the accounts . So the reasons for establishing the club were twofold - financial and a desire to have a place to meet and socialise that the party members could call their own . Money for the project was raised by selling £1 shares and people were asked to become members and pay their subs. before the club was even opened ! Financial backing was also obtained from Beverleys brewery (Wakefield) . All that was needed then was a building and somewhere to put it .

The building itself was an old Army/RAF hut . It was bought from a firm at Stump Cross , Brighouse , who specialised in selling this sort of thing . A small delegation from the Party went to look at what they had and bought one for around £400 . The site on Vicarage Street was chosen simply because it was available at the time . This is not as romantic as the rumour that it was chosen so as to keep an eye on the "enemy" (the Conservative Club being just across the road).

In the words of Bill Musgrave (founder member & volunteer steward) :
"We had to put a base down for it and then they put it up for us . It was just four walls when it was delivered so we had to do all the inside out . We bought some doors from Howarths and we had to partition it all out . We had to buy some cedar wood to line it with and we got some rockwool to deaden the sound . Harold Everett and myself lined it . He was good was Harold , one of the best . And there was Alf Tranter , he did all the plumbing . We had the heating to put in and the toilets to build . Eric Fossey did the electrical work . That's really how we got it going . The ladies helped tremendously when we got it going of course . There was a lot of hard work went into it ."

So the club started as it has carried on since . It has always been run on a shoestring and relied on the efforts of members to do most of the work on the building . It would be impossible to name all of those who have contributed time and effort here , but some who are worthy of special mention in recent years are Colin Marsh , Andy Gough and Eric Clarkson .

Although the official opening was not until September 1966 , when it was declared open by Alice Bacon MP , the first pints were pulled in May of that year on the night of the local government elections . A special licence was granted and , although the club was not quite finished , many local activists attended .

At that time , Wakefield also had a Trades Club (on George Street) which was the meeting place for many local Trade Union branches . Soon after the official opening of the Labour Club , the Trades Club closed down . This club then became the venue for most of these meetings and Trade Union activity has been a vital part of the club scene since then . This reached a peak during the year-long miners' strike of 1984/85 , when the club was the focal point for Wakefield Miners' Support Group . We hope to put some archive material from that period on this website in due course .

Shortly after the club itself opened , the Labour Party acquired 16 Vicarage Street (the house next door) for use as an office for the then MP , Walter Harrison . This remained in the hands of the C.L.P. until the late 1980s , when spiralling costs and its dilapidated condition made it unviable .

Throughout its history the club has had institutional links with the Labour Party , which elects the majority of the club management committee . The club was & is otherwise totally independent , making it a rare if not a unique establishment . Affiliation to the C.I.U. (Clubs & Institutes Union) was considered and rejected due to that organisation's discriminatory attitude towards women .

Issues such as this have been thrashed out over the years at monthly meetings of the club committee and twice-yearly general meetings . In the early years , they were often quite stormy and involved left/right power struggles . Places on the committee were highly sought after and , at general meetings , you had to be early or you didn't get a seat . One decision which was very controversial at the time (1990 or '91 ?) was not to replace Byron Cassar when he retired as club steward . This was , however , essential as the club was in debt and could not afford it . Since that time , the club has been run from day to day by its committee . This change from a management committee to a working committee has been one major reason for the meetings being relatively sedate affairs more recently .

Politics has provided some notable events in this club over the years . Speakers at meetings here have included Ken Livingstone , John Prescott , Vanessa Redgrave , Dennis Skinner and Tony Benn . We regularly run election night socials , which can be memorable . The atmosphere in here on general election night in 1997 will not be forgotten . (Note to Tony Blair & co. : things seem to have gone a bit stale more recently)

The club has always also had a social as well as a political role . In recent years the general level of political activity has ( sadly , I.M.H.O. but it's a sign of the times ) declined significantly , so that the club is now sustained more by its social side . Politics remains important though - if we were just the "Vicarage Street Social Club" we would not be here .

Entertainment here has been very varied . Events have been laid on by the club itself , by club members , and by other groups . These have included folk music , rock bands , comedy and pantomime . Most of this is home grown but we have also had some big name performers , eg. comedian Mark Thomas .

Over the years , the club has experienced high and low points in its fortunes (sic.) On more than one occasion it has been seriously short of cash and threatened with closure . At other times it has been bursting at the seams and seriously short of space for its activities . That was the case in 1994 , when the Labour Club was thriving at the same time as the Conservative Club (just across the road) was closing down . At around that time , we were starting to experience increasing difficulty of maintaining the fabric of the shed , which had already considerably exceeded its expected lifespan .

We then got a generous donation of money from Crigglestone Branch Labour Party after their sale of a piece of land . This led to the establishment , at a meeting on 1st March 1995 of the "RED SHED DEVELOPMENT FUND" with the aim of expanding and improving the premises .

Plan "A" was to extend the existing building . Plans were prepared for this during 1995 , which came to nothing because the foundations were discovered to be unstable which would have increased the costs enormously to rectify that first .

Plan "B" was to look for new premises nearby . A number of options were looked at . These included moving into the terrace of 3 houses next door (conversion would have involved knocking walls through etc.) or moving to another part of the city . One place seemed suitable for us (the New York bar) and we got as far as making an offer on it during summer 1999 .... we were gazumped . Since then , the search has continued but has been hindered by a number of "operational difficulties" in running the club . To date there have been no other definite plans and we are still using our old faithful shed . How much longer we can continue here is uncertain as there is a major redevelopment plan for the market area of Wakefield city centre , which could include the land that we occupy . Watch this space for updates .

In 2006 ,local artist Tim Burton painted the Red Shed. He told us recently ...

"I did the painting about a year ago, and sold it through the shop, Westgate End Bookshop and Gallery.
I have always loved the Red Shed because of the type of building it is, and the history. A wooden building, which could have been considered a temporary structure. Painting it red which was a brave thing to do, I should imagine at the time it caused some controversy, an excellent subject for a painting.

I knew that there were plans to redevelop the area and was worried it might be demolished, so many interesting and historic buildings have been lost in Wakefield, and this partly inspired me to paint it.
I am presently working on another painting of it from a different viewpoint and hope to finish it in about 2 weeks.


This page incorporates much of the text from a commemorative booklet , compiled by Richard Clarkson & published in 1991 for the club's 25th anniversary .

You can download the full booklet here (10.5Mb pdf)

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