AT the height of the working men's clubs era, in about 1960, there were 11 in Darlington with more than 20,000 members, out of a population of less than 80,000:

Darlington Club: The first, formed on Northgate in 1901.

Central Club: Formed in May 1907, in Arden Street. In 1917, it bought four cottages and a plumber's shop in the same street to build its headquarters.

Harrowgate Club: Also formed in 1907, in Back Mayfair Road. It moved to Salters Lane North, its current site, in 1913.

Cockerton: The Cockerton Silver Band practised at the Dr Syntax pub until it was put up for sale in 1911. The bandsmen bought it for £330 and built their headquarters on its site.

Haughton-le-Skerne: Robert Hodgson, founder member of the Darlington and a parish councillor in Haughton, bought two houses in the village and established the club in 1913. Because of its close links to the Darlington, it was originally known as "the New Club".

East End: Men from Bank Top met at the Nag's Head, Tubwell Row, and resolved to form a club in 1913.

In November, they bought a site in St John's Place which is still their home.

Rise Carr: It first met in 1917 in the Rolling Mills' reading room.

It then moved to the Stag Hotel in Spring Street, before settling in Eldon Street in 1929.

Hopetown and Whessoe: In 1919, men met in the Borough Hotel in Hopetown and decided to take over an empty house in Alliance Street and form a club.

Albert Hill: Formed in Barton Street in 1919.

ASE Club: The Amalgamated Society of Engineers first met in Faith House, Northgate, in 1919, and affiliated to the Club and Institute Union (CIU) in 1920.

In 1921 the club moved into a villa called Brookside, in Northgate.

It was the only club to put on professional boxing bouts, via promoter Billy Avery.

The biggest name to appear was Liverpool's Nel Tarleton, the British featherweight champion. The villa was demolished in 1963 and replaced with the club's current building.

Durlia: At the end of the First World War, Captain Dawson formed a club for ex-Durham Light Infantry (5th Battalion) members.

Initially they met in I'Anson Square. In 1939, the club moved to Post House Wynd, and in 1945 on to Duke Street.

It also, for a while, occupied the nightclub building in Commercial Street.

The Durlia seems to have ceased around 1995.

Croft: After the First World War, beer was in extremely short supply and small villages like Croft and Hurworth Place lost deliveries to the bigger towns.

The farmhands were so aggrieved, they took advice from teetotaller Oswald Harrison, of Ashton Villa, and decided to form a club in 1919 on the Durham side of the Tees.

It affiliated to the CIU on August 24, 1920, and the beer has flowed freely ever since.

There are, of course, plenty of other clubs for working men in Darlington, but they are not affiliated to the CIU.

The 12th club in town was the Skerne Park. A bitter battle began in 1962 for a working men's club to built on the estate, but it was not until 1974 that the £70,000 club officially opened with 2,200 members.

It was affiliated to the CIU, but dropped its link about 15 years ago and now trades alone.