KBGS Old Boys' Forum

A place to discuss Keighley Boys' Grammar School. 


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KBGS Old Boys' Forum
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Re: The Old Keighlians Club

John,
You ask about the Keighlians Club in Lord Street. I used to pay the place a visit now and again when I played for the team in the early 50's. As I remember it, little would have changed from the terrace house it would have been before the Keighlians occupied it. There was a hallway from the front door from the pavement in Lord Street which led to the staircase to the first floor. The front room to the left was used as a committee room and select bar for the great and the not-so-good, whilst the room at the back served as a bar room for the plebs with drinks being dispensed from the bar under the stairs. Presumably the beer and bottles were stored in the rear extension which would have been the kitchen when it was a house. I could not remember ever having been on the first floor so I consulted an old friend, Geoffrey Kitchen against whose buttocks I used to snuggle on a Saturday afternoon [he played prop forward - I was in the second row] Geoff used the Club far more frequently that I and he replied as follows:-

I have been carrying out some research as regards the old club on Lord Street. It would appear that it was aquired in 1921/22 by the 'Grammar School Old Boys' Association' when it had a Reading Room, Card Room and Tea Room and was strictly DRY [article by Arthur Town in the Golden Jubilee brochure 1920/1970]
From the same article I quote,' At this time [1925/26] a crisis arose regarding the club on Lord Street. The rugger players naturally wanted to apply for a licence so that intoxicants could be available on the premises. The school, of course, opposed this, but the motion was eventually carried with the loss of some members [not players]. We took over the premises, had changing rooms arranged in the attics and a rather primitive bath installed in the cellar.'
My own recollections date from September 1949 when I first joined the club. You are correct in your description of the ground floor. The room on the left [called the Wharton Room] was used as you say. It was in my early days used for providing food for the visitors after the game. ladies were allowed in the club to provide this which was quite a break in tradition as I understand. Up to that time no female pssed through the door.
Upstairs on the first floor [I don't recall any attic] was a snooker table and before we had any accommodation whatsoever at Thwaites, this is where both teams changed. The concrete bath [it could have been the one as in the 1920's] was in the cellar. We were transported to and from the ground by Scott's Taxis but if the visitors came by coach we would use their transport. When the weather was bad and the ground muddy, this was the most sensible way.
The bar was as you describe, but eventually both downstairs rooms were knocked into one and the bar placed with it's back to the window in Lord Street. Also in my early days as a committee member we managed to sell the snooker table and turn that too, complete with bar, into a large room for social events.
The first accommodation at Thwaites came from two old army huts which housed home and away changing rooms, a bath and a large bar area. The bar originally sold only bottled ale until the advent of Watney's Red Barrel, which would keep even if not consumed at the time.'

The Lord Street premises would have been disposed of in 1969 when the ground was transferred to Utley and the magnificent new Club House was built.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1945 - 50

Current location (optional) Norfolk