The first club was opened in Red-ish, south-east of Manchester in 1857. Henry Solley founded the working men's club and institute union (CIU) He hoped his clubs would offer uplifting education for their members. They were exempt from pub licensing laws - allowing them to be late night drinking clubs. A century later they have come to represent a different kind of man. The homes of comedians and crumpled tuxedos. There was even a TV variety show in the 1970s called the Wheel Taps and Shumpts Social Club,. Sometimes they're good, and sometimes they're bad. I don't know books or turns are you? We're