Bethnal Green Working Men's Club

BGWMC is fun. the venue is great, the staff is friendly and the nights are varied.
plus they have close-up film screenings on tuesday which show brilliant films

best night is probably jailhouse jam when the whole club is transformed into a fake jail. lots of fun, great music.. no complaints here!

I just when to the club last sat 24 July 2010.
Its nice and people there is nice and friendly. music is rock 60s night.
people dress up many good looking girls too. well, im sure will go back again,. 7 aug. i hope you guy come and join us.
tara

See

Recently I organised my birthday party at the Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club and it was FANTASTIC. It’s a very very cool place - Different with a capital 'D’... It’s paradoxical because on the one hand people really make an effort to dress up, but on the other hand there are far fewer posers than you would find at your ordinary West End club… It’s very much a live and let live kind of place. The night we went was 'Teen Bop!’ with Pulp Fiction as the general theme: there was lots of groovy dancing to music from the 50s, 60s and 70s, a live band, burlesque, a twist contest and free cheeseburgers. I had an excellent night, as did my guests, and I’m really looking forward to returning there soon. Go before they ban it for being TOO MUCH FUN.

Just this weekend a group of students, including myself, were treated to the most horrifying display of arrogance and disrespect by the apes/bouncers at this club. After a good dose of intimidation at the door, one of my party was accused of “making trouble” at the coat and bag check (he held up the queue for less than a minute, waiting for one of us to fish out a coin for his bag). The manager came up to him, said rudely that the club didn’t need his business, and that he take himself and his refund out at once. My friend asked what the reason was, because he didn’t even know there was a problem! No reason was given, only threats, and he was then dragged by the arm by one of the bouncers. Another friend tried to intervene, but was pushed down by the NECK down the entrance stairs.

I understand the whole “right to refuse entry” bit, but we were all completely sober and were not loud or aggressive at all. Worst part is, our MA program actually had its fundraiser at the club just two months ago, and was precisely the reason why we thought of it when we were looking for a place to party.

A huge disappointment, this club ruined our night! Who would want to go to a club where the manager doesn’t even want to listen to your complaint, and tells you he doesn’t need your money??? Rude, arrogant, very aggressive. Go to bethnal green working mens club if you want to treated like a piece of trash, and be welcomed with a slew of insults and nasty attitude from staff.

Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club was one of the first places that opened when Shoreditch began its slump as the ideal place for arty, alternative clubbing. I remember wondering whether the owners were being a bit too ironic, with the plastic school hall chairs, MDF tables and bar reminiscent of something slightly less classy looking that the Eastenders’ Queen Vic. Now there are alternative scene bars in ‘old man pubs’ all over Hackney and Bethnal Green. It’s almost as if they started a trend…

The difference with the Working Men’s is that they have a varied and creative entertainment programme that has spanned barn dancing, rock gigs and summer fetes (I mean the latter example quite literally, think a booze-fuelled hipster recreation of the Darling Buds of May!). They’re a great place to remember when you’re applying what is known by locals as the No Saturday Rule (i.e.: people going out on any night BUT a Saturday to avoid all the people that come out wanting to fight the guys and fondle the gals).

I went to HungaMunga when I was there. Billed as ‘the arty party without the arty farties’, it was a mass of people sitting at tables, scrawling childlike drawings, painting each others’ faces, moulding things out of play-doh and generally indulging the event’s regressive joy. Needless to say, you don’t need to be Rothko to come to this night.

The rest of the line up is varying but similar in terms of the freedom to be unbelievably silly and make John Cleese look like the Pope in comparison. They usually shut up shop at 3am, and are a stone’s throw away from the adjoining main road’s night buses home.

I like it here. I think. I spent my birthday here and that was great. It was my 25th and was much fun indeed. I’m just not sure how much I like the club. I think I do. It’s a cool indie trash glam burlesque type place. Or something like that.

But it’s a strange mix of trash and glamour. But it’s more trash. The Banksy print has made it annoyingly easy for people to find. Grrrr….

It’s small, cosy and intimate, but it’s full of people who are too cool for that. You won’t find yourself having random conversations with people. I didn’t anyway. But I did get free drinks for no reason and started a locomotion when Kylie was playing and that was fun.

The nights are varied here and that’s great fun. You never know what you’re going to find. But you should prepare beforehand. If you’re late and you’re not all dressed up, they might not let you in at all.

Unless you have nerves of steal like me and blag your birthday latecomers in while you’re smoking a fag outside. In fact, for that, they can have another star.

Ever been to a school disco, where the gym equipment was only partially concealed, the floors were a little sticky and the walls smelt faintly of malt whiskey? Well that would be capture the charm of the Working Men's Club then, steeped in East End history demarcated by a summertime Banksy print sprawled across its outer walls, commissioned by Tower Hamlets (at least that's what the stamp reads!)

It may look a little like an antiquated backwater, but the events are varied and attract both the quirky and avant garde. Thursday night burlesque is particularly over indulgent, just don't bring any hard boiled eggs! Confused, then get down to Pollard Row to see what I'm harping on about!