Last orders for the Working Men's Club? Although the club is popular with local East End residents, its secretary, Peter Bell, is far from upbeat about the future. The problem, he explains, is that it's only busy at weekends. Revenue is propped up by West Ham supporters (who drink there after home matches at neighbouring Upton Park stadium) and if they proceed to move grounds to the Olympics site it could mean the club's closure. It hasn't always been like this. Twenty years ago, when Bell first arrived, it was a thriving place, with around 1,800 members and a busy lunchtime trade throughout the week. Weekends were packed, with the big concert hall on the first floor hosting bingo and discos. Nowadays the grandiose space more often acts as a poignant reminder of the club's glory days than it does as a function room. The downstairs bar does at least retain much of the old atmosphere at weekends, with many of its current 1,100 members regularly enjoying live entertainment from local acts. Before winning the X Factor, Alexandra Burke honed her performing skills here. In their heyday, WMCs were a focal point for community get-togethers. This photo was taken in 1973 in Newcastle. Image: Homer Sykes Archive / Alamy Nearby in Tower Hamlets, another working men's club is entertaining a different crowd: its ballroom heaves with young hipsters in vintage dresses and suits as they jive to rockabilly and watch off-kilter performers on the stage. When Warren Dent started running popular themed nights at the Bethnal Green Working Men's Club in 2001, it was once a month and just for fun. This changed a few years ago when the club was faced with closure due to financial problems. Dent made the club's members an offer: "I asked them to give me the chance to keep their club open." The venue began to admit the general public. "They want it to feel like it's still their place," Dent says, "and they tell you when they've had enough. But they're grateful too. For a lot of them, this place is their life. Kate Nash performs at Bethnal Green Working Men's Club. Image: AlamyCelebrity / Alamy Thanks to his nights, this is one WMC that is still going strong. However, Dent admits that it's a struggle to keep going. Away from the main road, it only generates income from weekend trade and operating costs are massive. Bell faces similar problems. Both men say no straight-thinking business investor would get involved. Yet both remain driven to keep the clubs going. "I love the movement, I believe in what it stands for and that's why I'm still struggling away, doing my best to support it," declares Slasberg, whose own club in Northampton still faces pressure despite having 2,000 members. He cites changing government regulations as a major contributing factor in the decline of the clubs; "open all hours" shops, cheap alcohol in supermarkets and the smoking ban have all had an impact. The number of WMCs in the country has halved over the last three decades. Image: Mark Henderson / Alamy So, given the challenges, can the WMC survive? Both Bethnal Green and East Ham demonstrate the financial benefits of opening to the public, yet Slasberg is not convinced: "The private part of a WMC is part of its character; if we just become pubs then the social side goes out of the window." He would like to see an influx of new members. The organisation welcomes all social and professional backgrounds, although not everybody seems to realise that. To survive, Slasberg believes the WMC needs to broaden its appeal to the younger generation. This, however, isn't a problem in East Ham, where membership is still passed on from father to son. The sons come here when they're kids and become members when they're 18. They sign their friends in as guests and then the mates want to become members too, so we have a lot of young people," Bell explains. Most pubs in the area don't welcome young adults, yet in the club they never have any problems with them. According to Bell, the fact that WMCs are owned by their members (you become a shareholder automatically on acquiring membership) encourages good behaviour. In addition, they have a strict members" code: anyone who doesn't abide by the rules is barred from all 2000 WMCs in the UK. Reflecting on last summer's riots, Bell believes it would help if there were more clubs for young Londoners to join: "The lads and girls in here are respectful, they know to behave themselves... because they see it all around and they care about the club." With club membership costing anything between £3 and £60 annually, it's a cheap entertainment option for recession-hit communities. Furthermore, the clubs themselves are inexpensive places, where someone can just sit and have a game of cards with their friends and simply socialise. "That is," Slasberg concludes, "a very important part of the role of the working men's club." Back in East Ham, Bell is getting ready for another weekend. An elderly man, presently the only customer, sits at a table with a pint of ale and packet of crisps. "I just wish," Bell says wistfully, looking around him, "that Newham council would come down here on a Saturday night. It's like a party, with 80-year-olds up dancing, young and old people together. They would think, "Yeah, this is good for our borough, why don't we do something to help provide this service." Because there are plenty of people who want that service, of that I can assure you. Hannah Marshall is a freelance journalist specialising in social and community issues and the arts.