Groby  Club

May 2018

Groby Club prospers whilst others close their doors

Last month the Brush Sports and Social Club in Loughborough, a facility used by both existing and ex-employees of the Brush Group for many years, announced that it was running at a loss and was to close. The club has seen its popularity decline over the last decade, with the number of users falling dramatically, a problem also experienced by many working mens' clubs.

During their heyday in the early 1970s, there were just over 4,000 Club and Institute Union (CIU) affiliated clubs across the country with as many as four million club members in the boom years and waiting lists to join. But times change and this figure has more than halved as many clubs have had to shut their doors for the last time. Older readers will remember the days when every community across Leicestershire had it's own club and Leicester city seemed to have a club around every corner.

“Full of hope and confidence on this win, I entered another competition at the Palace Theatre, Leicester, in which I managed to get to the finals and came fourth out of twelve,” Terry explained. The winners were successful local singing group The Dallas Boys, who were once described as Britain's first boy band.

“This now started me off singing around clubs. Unfortunately I could not read music, but I found a lady who had a grand piano in her front room and she would help me practise and to select music that was in my key, plus songs she felt suited me,” Terry added. “The Working Men's clubs were (and still are) the best grounding any artiste could have wished for to learn their career.

“So it proved for me as I went on to entertain outside Leicester in various social clubs in the Midlands area. I look back with a lot of affection for those times and am sad to see the decline of these clubs, but was glad I was around in their heyday.”

Groby Club bucks the trend

Leicester was one of the leading centres for working men's clubs, many of which have now closed. The Groby Club, however, has bucked the trend, and has gone from strength to strength. Although the old club image has been pushed aside by a refit which has provided two comfortable bars, and a redesigned concert room, the old values associated with serving members and being at the heart of the community endure. It is not just members that have benefited but also community organisations. Large screen television provides coverage of sporting events, and at weekends there is always quality live entertainment.

And for those who want a break from cooking Ben's Kitchen provides good quality food at reasonable prices with the added confidence of a 5 star hygiene rating from the Borough Council. This is a real coup for the club, as at the end of February Ben's Kitchen was rated 19th out of 1000 Leicester restaurants on the Trip Advisor website. Of the 57 reviews 94% rated it excellent, 5% very good with the remaining one reviewer settling for 'average' because of perceived customer service issues. However, even this critic said “the food was first class and beautifully cooked and was one of the best Sunday lunches we have had in a long time, it all being obviously home cooked....we would happily visit again and we will recommend it to others.” Not a bad comment from a disappointed customer! Ben Knowles must be very pleased to have such a reputation at just 24 years of age.

He was born in London but has lived in Leicester since he was 10. “Growing up in the pub trade taught me many things,” said Ben. “I learnt a lot from my mother and father, Colin and Kay Knowles and have 8 years behind me in the catering and hospitality industry. I decided to go to Loughborough college for 2 years to help with my passion for good food. After leaving college, I worked in several pubs and restaurants before taking on Ben's Kitchen as my own food franchise. It was very hard in the first two years, but with the help of family, friends, regular customers and now Trip Advisor and Facebook, Ben's Kitchen is now doing better than ever!”

If you become a member you can take advantage of all that Groby Club has to offer and help ensure that it will continue to be one of the survivors.

Reverend Henry Solly - a pragmatic teetotaller?

In 1941 the government commissioned a report into the ways that Britain should be rebuilt after World War Two and gave the task to William Beveridge. His 1942 report was influential in the founding of the welfare state. When Beveridge describes someone as “a restless, inventive, constructive spirit, part author of at least three large living movements : charity organisation, working men's clubs, and garden cities", one concludes he is talking about someone who wanted to make a difference to people's lives.

He was writing about the Reverend Henry Solly who supported many radical causes, such as universal suffrage, free education, repeal of the Corn Laws, co-operatives, anti-slavery, and early closing for shops and Sunday opening for museums. In the early 1860s he took a leading part in the founding of the Working Men’s Club and Institute Union. Ironically, as a teetotaller he did not want them to sell alcohol, and equality for women in clubs had to wait for over a century.  

Ambitious plan for Groby Club approved

A look at the Planner's report

The look of the centre of the village is set to change following the approval by Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council of plans to improve the facilities of Groby Club at the junction of Leicester Road and Newtown Linford Lane.

The scheme includes the demolition of the first floor brick and tile structure with a pitched roof that forms the central element of the club and the construction of a first floor flat roofed extension to provide a function room with bar and toilet facilities, a snooker room and the formation of a disabled lift. The proposed extension would result in remodelling of the club and the creation of a flat sedum roof. There were officer concerns in relation to the extent, height and design of the first floor extension and its potential impact on the setting of the adjacent listed building and the amenities of neighbouring properties, as well as the potential for noise and disturbance from the proposed function room. The club has responded with amended plans to address the issues raised.

The site is located close to the centre of Groby and residents will be familiar with the look of the club at present - a mixture of a two storey pitched slate roof and a flat roof.

The assessment by the Planning department at Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council says that the building is identified in the Groby Conservation Area Appraisal as an unlisted building of local historic or architectural importance. However, the appraisal offers no justification as to why it is so identified. A site visit indicated that that roof thrust has pushed the front elevation wall out of verticality and the supporting documentation raises questions as to the integrity of the structure.

Approximately 80 percent of the ground floor of the building has been removed during previous alterations.

The dual pitched slate roof is considered the most significant part of the building, being constructed of traditional materials. But officers believe that its loss would not have a significant detrimental impact on the character of the Groby Conservation Area. Concerns raised regarding the structural integrity of the building could provide justification for its removal and no objection to the loss of the structure is raised. The demolition of the existing brick and tile pitched roof core and its replacement with a much larger, though lower in overall height, first floor extension with a flat roof would alter the overall character and appearance of the building.

The amended scheme would reflect the more contemporary character of the single storey flat roof section of the building and the use of sympathetic, though non-traditional, materials would result in a comprehensive re-modelling of the building and a coherent and unified appearance that the site currently lacks. The planners concluded that notwithstanding the objections received the amended scheme would not result in any significant harm to the character or appearance of the site or street scene and would preserve the character and appearance of the Groby Conservation Area. They also thought that the proposal would not be over dominant or overbearing on the adjacent Grade II listed building at 12 Leicester Road.

No adverse impact on residential amenity

Objections had been received that the scheme would have an adverse impact on residential amenity as a result of potential noise and disturbance from the use of the function room and balcony on the first floor at the front of the building, loss of privacy from overlooking from the proposed balcony and loss of light to gardens. Environmental Health (Pollution) initially raised concerns in respect of the proposed balcony and opening bi-fold doors on the front elevation of the scheme at first floor. However, following the receipt of amended plans that have removed these proposals from the scheme and replaced them with fully enclosed fixed windows, Environmental Health (Pollution) have removed their objection. A condition is recommended to control the glazing specification of the fixed windows to limit noise escape from the function room and afford adequate protection to residential amenity. Subject to the scheme being constructed in accordance with a satisfactory window and glazing specification, the proposal is unlikely to result in any adverse impacts on residential amenity from undue noise or disturbance to surrounding properties. The amended scheme has relocated the proposed first floor extension and removed the proposed balcony and opening bi-fold doors from the front elevation of the scheme.

The amended scheme now proposes fixed windows that would be offset from the rear garden of the neighbouring property and face towards the car park of the club so that there would be no adverse overbearing or overshadowing impacts or loss of privacy from direct overlooking to the rear of No. 12. There are no windows proposed in the side elevation that would result in loss of privacy and the proposed porthole windows in the rear (south) elevation are to be obscurely glazed and non-opening therefore the scheme would not result in any adverse impacts on the amenities of the occupiers of Rookery Lane from loss of privacy from overlooking. There are no windows in the east side elevation that would result in a loss of privacy from overlooking to the occupiers of 1 The Rookery. The proposal would not result in any adverse impacts on the amenities of any other neighbouring properties.

Parking problems

Parking in the village is always an issue and objections were received on the grounds of inadequate parking provision to serve the new function room. This could result in additional on-street car parking around the site. The proposed parking plan submitted would provide a total of 18 parking spaces including one disabled space, but there is no potential to further increase parking provision on site. With regard to parking the conclusion was that “it is considered that the cumulative impacts of the development are unlikely to be severe to the extent that the application should be refused on highway safety grounds. There are parking restrictions in streets adjacent to the site. The provision of an enhanced facility for use by the community is considered to outweigh any negative impacts from potential on-street car parking.”

Some residents will be sad to see this change to the centre of Groby but others may feel that the alterations and the new sedum roof will improve the street scene and will be compatible with the look of the library which is opposite the site. No information is available on the proposed timescale for the alterations

This article is a summary of the report to the Planning Committee. The full report is available on the Borough Council website best found by entering the application reference (15/00430/FUL) into Google.

The 2011 improvements at the Club

August 2011    The entrance hall and front bar at Groby Ex-Servicemen's Club on Leicester Road have had a makeover. The club has also submitted a planning application for improvements to the property to Hinckley and Bosworth Council. If the application is approved the look of the club will be upgraded and facilities will be enhanced. The work involves the construction of a roof terrace at the front of the club above the main bar.

It is believed that following a structural survey it was found that if a supporting steel frame is erected a deck could be constructed and access to the new terrace could be internally from the first floor. After consultations with planners and the Conservation Officer at Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council full architectural drawings were commissioned. Improvements to the frontage will improve the look of the building and horizontally contructed fences to the east and west sides will prevent overlooking of neighbouring properties.

Ex-Servicemen's Club rejects

 Tesco bid speculation

October 2010    Reports that leading supermarket chain Tesco has offered £ 1million for the Ex-Servicemens Club on Leicester Road in Groby, near the Co-operative Village Store, have been rejected by a spokesman for the club.

He said it was not policy to comment on gossip and added that "the Club is out-performing most trends and continues to welcome more and more new members – especially young families within, and new to the Village." The Groby Club also received applications from former members of the Anstey Working Mens Club which closed last year.   In a short statement Tesco said only that they 'will not be going to this site,' which leaves residents wondering whether they would like an outlet in the village, which already has two supermarkets.

After concentrating on larger supermarkets for some tears Tesco, which has annual profits of over £3 billion, is now accelerating the opening of smaller stores. It opened 2 million square feet of store space in its past financial year, including about 100 new Tesco Express and One Stop convenience stores. It plans to increase this to 2.4 million sq ft in 2010-11. In addition to buying convenience store chains the company has also acquired sites or buildings such as the club, to convert to it's smaller store format.

The company has looked for the most cost effective way of developing it's new Tesco Express stores and has worked with Yorkon,the UK's leading modular building manufacturer to produce a new store design. This uses a standard Yorkon module, rather than a bespoke structure, allowing Tesco to benefit from the standardisation of module components and greater economies of scale for both standalone Express stores and those on petrol forecourts. 

The glazing system for each store is now fully fitted off site in York, reducing time on site and improving quality. Other design changes have included the use of white pre-finished wall panels to minimise internal painting and the manufacture and fitting out of store modules in a factory environment. They are delivered to site by road where they are craned into position complete with freezers/chillers, checkouts, toilets, flooring, internal walls and glazing. Yorkon says this approach reduces the programme time for a typical store to just two weeks from erection of the building to handover, whilst improving quality, cost control and safety on site. They also believe that off-site construction also helps to address the issue of skills shortages which is severely affecting the building industry