Drinking Clubs

Bedlinog Clubs

The ones I could trace were-

British Legion club and Institute, the Square closed

Bedlinog Rugby club the square 

Constitutional Club, Pleasant View 

Workman’s Hall and Institute, Garth Terrace Looks closed

Rugby Club 2020

Bedlinog RFC 2014

Bedlinog Constitutional club

photographs above of the Bedlinog Working mens club

The old Bedlinog Legion

Nelson Rugby club late 1970’s (Photo Ian Willaims)

Nelson RFC 2000

Rugby club 2015 with extension

Balfour Constitutional Club, Nelson

The Balfour Constitutional Club, situated at 17 Wern Crescent, Nelson, was one of the village’s long-established social clubs. Although an exact opening date has proved difficult to establish, the club was certainly operating by the First World War and was already an important part of community life.

The name was almost certainly associated with Arthur Balfour, the Conservative politician and Prime Minister from 1902 to 1905. Constitutional clubs established around Britain during this period were generally associated with the Conservative and Unionist movement, although over time many developed primarily into local social and recreational clubs.

During the First World War the Balfour Club played a particularly active role in Nelson. In February 1915 it was reported that 34 members of the club were serving in the armed forces. The club organised smoking concerts and gatherings for servicemen returning on leave and kept in contact with members serving overseas and prisoners of war. Robert Williams, the club treasurer before the war, became a prisoner of war in Germany and received letters and parcels from his fellow club members in Nelson.

The club continued as an important meeting and social venue for generations of Nelson residents. A surviving photograph records members of the Balfour Club on a trip to the Blackpool Illuminations around 1953, illustrating the social outings and activities organised for members and their families.

By the 1990s the premises were still being used by local organisations; the Nelson and District Chess Club, formed in 1993, later made the Balfour Club its home.

The registered organisation, Balfour Constitutional Club, Nelson Limited, was formally removed from the register in December 2009 after the authorities recorded that the society had ceased to exist. The club building itself survived and was subsequently sold and operated as a private club under the name Jacobs/Jacabbs, with CAMRA continuing to record the Balfour Constitutional Club as its former name.

For much of the twentieth century the Balfour was therefore far more than simply a drinking club: it was a familiar social centre for Nelson, associated with wartime support, entertainment, outings, games and generations of local families.

The Balfour club in Nelson before sale

The former Balfour club renamed “Jacobs”

Whitehall Golf club

Star Club

The original Star club

The Nelson Social club (behind Dynevor Terrace)

Site of the former social club now a private home

Beer Checks once valid at the Social club

 The sign on the original Social club where Barclays bank is

Trelewis Ex-Servicemans club,British legion rear of old building

There used to be a thriving Ex Servicemen’s social club in the village. It was situated on a road from General and Commercial garage that went up past the War memorial on Captains hill under two railway tunnels and out into Bontnewydd Terrace passing the club which was nestled into the cuttings. The club suffered through a drop in members and needed a lot of repairs in the early 1980’s, however the final blow came when the club burned down later that decade and was never replaced after a problem with insurance monies.

The remains of the burnt down club

Some regulars at the club

Better times at the club

Regulars in the bar Tom Jones, Islwyn Carlick Brian Jones

Road and car park entrance

A Miles family wedding at the club 1973

A once valid beer check (Robert Amos)

The officers and volunteers of the British legion in the village used to organise the armistice day march to the memorial statue, close by on Captains hill. These same members were instrumental in raising funds and arranging for the Memorial statue to be moved to a new site in the village, near the Ffaldcaich Inn, in February 2002.

There is a dedicated page about the Ex Servicemen’s club at the top of the website, written by Brian Jones.

Above we see the remains of the demolished club