Luke Littler and £2.50 pints spark comeback for UK working males’s golf equipment and social golf equipment

Membership of 1,800 working men’s clubs and hundreds of Royal British Legion, social, Conservative, Labour and Liberal clubs typically costs from just £20 a year

Social clubs are making a comeback – thanks to £2.50 pints and the Luke Littler darts boom. Around 125 million bargain-price pints will be necked this year in Britain’s 1,800 working men’s clubs, made famous by Peter Kay’s Phoenix Nights.

Punters are being drawn by cheap beer at close to half the £5-a-pint average pub price amid the cost of living crisis. Darts boards, now rarely found in pubs but still in almost every club, are another big attraction.

Social clubs report a surge in customers, with membership soaring to over a million in a revival towards their 1970s heyday. Clubs have ditched stereotypes of bingo and smoke-filled rooms, with women, families and students among members.

Membership of 1,800 working men’s clubs and hundreds of Royal British Legion, social, Conservative, Labour and Liberal clubs typically costs from just £20 a year.

They offer cheap drinks, as low as £2.50-a-pint in the North and £3.50 in the South, as they are run for the benefit of members, rather than as commercial businesses, like pubs.

Meanwhile, hundreds of Britain’s 40,000 pubs are closing every year as they lose drinkers amid price increases caused by high Government tax, increased wages and energy bills.

Mark Fergusson, member of the Working Men’s Club and Institute Union (CIU) national executive, said: “Social clubs were declining, but more are now holding their own and getting new members.

“People are coming because of the cost of living crisis. And more people are coming to play darts, as almost every club has a board and a lot have teams. Young people are cottoning on to the attraction of social clubs. My club in Rotherham is £3.20 a pint and we’re a hub of the community.”

A barman at Putney Club, South London, where a pint costs £3.50 compared to £6.50 in nearby pubs, said: “Membership numbers are improving after Covid, and the cost of living means clubs are attracting new people.”

Wayne Kmiov, 28, a member of Chiswick Memorial Club, West London, said: “I recently joined and it’s great. A pint is under £5, it’s full of people who spend all their time there – and it’s got a darts board, jukebox and even a meat raffle.”

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