The Tyneside Club
Situated in the town of Sheringham in North Norfolk, the Tyneside Club is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year and continues to be at the heart of its local community 365 days a year
Celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, the Tyneside Club in Sheringham on the North Norfolk coast has just enjoyed an extremely busy summer with locals, seasonal workers and holidaymakers alike all heading to the club in large numbers.
Autumn may now have arrived but that doesn't mean life at the club will slow down too much with the staff and Committee continuing to work hard to provide a home-from-home for the members and give them plenty of reasons to keep visiting the club.
Just before we continue to find out a little more about this much-cherished venue, what about the club's curious name, given that Tyneside is around 200 miles away from this very picturesque corner of North Norfolk?
"Well, there are a couple of explanations for the name," explains Club Steward Pete Allcock.
"One is that the wife of the club's Founder hailed from the North East so he decided to name it the Tyneside Club as a tribute to her.
"The other is that the club was originally housed in a building called 'Tyneside' so it just took the name from that.
"Whichever is the correct version, it's a great talking point, especially when visitors from the North East come in for a drink!"
However it came to be named, the Tyneside Club has been a popular venue since 1949 and continues to be a thriving social hub.
"It's a real mix of people who come into the club throughout the year," says Pete.
"We have a strong core of locals who support the club and then you have contractors who move into the area periodically and then in the holiday season you have an influx of people from all over the country.
"It's a popular holiday destination with a lot of accommodation, including static caravan and camping sites around the area and the beach is around a mile away from the club.
"We get a lot of summer members who love coming to the club and take up guest and summer memberships.
"You also have a lot of people who perhaps come down a few times a year so they become full members of the club.
"Our overall membership number is growing steadily and we currently have around 1,700 members of all ages."
Club life centres around the club's two main rooms – the Sports Bar and Lounge Bar – both with large screen TVs showing live sport, while members can also entertain themselves with the full-size snooker table, a pool table, a darts area, amusement and lottery machines and jukebox.
There is also a large outdoor area at the front of the club, including a marquee complete with a bar which is extremely busy during the warmer months.
The club prides itself both on the quality and price of the drinks it provides with lagers like Foster's and Cruzcampo proving very popular alongside John Smith's Bitter and a range of cask ales, including Tyneside Club Ale, a rebadged cask ale supplied by Greene King which has proven very popular.
"Our 'house' ale has gone down well and we also have a rotating selection of cask ales from a variety of breweries, large and small, to ensure that lovers of cask ale have an incentive to come in and see what new beers we have on," says Pete.
Live entertainment is a major driver of trade with bands or singers performing in the club on Saturday nights and Sunday afternoons.
"Throughout the summer months, we also have a singer in the outside bar on Wednesday afternoons," says Pete.
"We have a real variety of acts with songs from across the eras so it has a wide appeal.
"We also do home-cooked food which is really popular with lots of classic dishes on offer, including Fish 'n' Chips, pies, Sunday Roasts, etc.
"Thursday is Steak Night where you get a steak dinner with all the trimmings for under a tenner.
"We also have many of the traditional activities you would associate with CIU clubs, including bingo every Sunday evening and a Meat Draw every Saturday lunchtime plus our various sports teams compete in the local leagues."
Regular charity fundraisers are also held at the club with a recent music night staged in September benefiting the East Anglia Air Ambulance and a Race Night raising cash for the Stroke Association.
"On August 25, we staged 'Porkfest' in aid of Cancer Research UK which was a full day of music with six artists performing as well as a DJ playing sets," says Pete.
"It all took place outside from 12 midday to closing time with people also enjoying a BBQ.
"There are charity events going on throughout the year for a variety of causes."
The club enjoys an enviable position in the town with the main railway station just metres away while opposite is the station for the heritage steam railway known as the 'Poppy Line' which connects Sheringham with Holt some five miles away.
"Our location is excellent in terms of attracting 'passing trade', people who are arriving or departing by train and end up coming in and paying day membership for £1 or holiday membership for £3.50 if they want to keep coming back," says Pete.
In terms of community engagement, the club is part of the fabric of Sheringham life and is involved in all the major cultural events taking place in town, including the annual Sheringham Festival which is the busiest week of the year for the club.
"The Festival is massive for us and we stage a whole week of related activities in the club, including a darts tournament, a pool tournament, a Carnival Bingo Night and a Carnival Kids Party," says Pete.
"This year we also had live music in the outside bar with an Elvis tribute and a band.
"One of the main events of the Festival is the Parade and we always pull out all the stops to create an amazing themed float.
"Last year the theme was Harry Potter and we've also done The Greatest Showman. This year the members created a Wild West Saloon on a Caravan chassis.
"It really was a fantastic effort complete with gunslingers, native americans and a guitarist playing country music.
"We've now won first prize for our float for the past several years and it's fantastic for the profile of the club and real testament to the hard work of the members who build the float each year.
"We also took part in the town's 1940s-themed weekend in September with members dressing up in period outfits and live music from the era.
"This area had an important gunnery training camp during the Second World War and now there is a museum on the site with a tank collection and other military equipment.
"Then, each April, we have the Viking Festival which is another spectacular community event which commemorates the area's involvement with the Vikings and culminates in the burning of a replica Viking longship on the local beach.
"Again, many people in the club – and in town – get involved and dress up in Viking costumes.
"All these events attract people in their thousands so the club is always busy during the various festivals."
It's not just the bigger events which demonstrate the club's commitment to community life but also its week-to-week support of local groups who need a place to meet, such as the Sheringham Folk Music Society who assemble every Monday and the North Norfolk Veterans Association who hold meetings in the club.
"It really is a great club with a fantastic set of members and a really dedicated Club Committee led by President Jimmy Morrison and Secretary Mo Thompson," says Pete.
"The members are rightly proud of just how important the club is to the local community and to the life of the town."
