Working men's club

Working men's clubs are a type of private social club first created in the 19th century in industrial areas of the United Kingdom, particularly the North of England, the Midlands, Scotland and many parts of the South Wales Valleys, to provide recreation and education for working class men and their families. They also began at this time in Australia.

Purpose

Despite the educational ambitions, most working men's clubs are recreational. Typically, a club would have a room, often referred to (especially in Northern England) as a vault with a bar for the sale and consumption of alcohol, snooker, pool or bar billiards tables, as well as televisions for sport entertainment; many provide food. A much larger room would be connected, often called the concert or entertainment room with a stage and a layout of tables, stools and backrest sofas. They often provide night time entertainment, mainly on the weekends such as bingo, raffles, live music cabaret and comedy, playing popular music. They are also known for their charitable works.

Gentlemen's club

A gentlemen's club, or formerly traditional gentlemen's club, is a members-only private club originally set up by and for British upper class men in the 18th century, and popularised by English upper-middle class men and women in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Today, some clubs are more accommodating about the gender and social status of their members. Many countries outside the United Kingdom have prominent gentlemen's clubs, mostly those associated with the British Empire, in particular, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh have enthusiastically taken up the practice, and have a thriving club scene. That kind of sociability for gentlemen's was reproduced also in Continental Europe, as Maria Zozaya has shown, directly linked to this British way of male clubbing, but mixtured with French influences. Social History began to pay attention to the study of this clubs in Continental Europe especially since 1995-2000.

History

The original clubs were established in the West End of London. Today, the area of St James's is still sometimes called "clubland". Clubs took over some parts of the role occupied by coffee houses in 18th century London, and reached the height of their influence in the late 19th century. The first clubs, such as White's, Brooks's and Boodle's, were aristocratic in flavour, and provided an environment for gambling, which was illegal outside of members-only establishments.

Working Men

Working Men is a live compilation album by Canadian progressive rock band Rush. The compilation documents a shortlist of career-spanning material pulled from the band's three tours during the 2000s. It is available in both CD and DVD formats like the previous releases. Both formats were released on November 13, 2009, in Europe and November 17, 2009, in North America.

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Neil Peart, Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson, except where noted. 

References