More than 140 years of tradition has come to an end with the decision by the Protestant, men-only Dublin Conservative Club to close its doors and sell off its buildings.
Originally known as the City and County of Dublin Working Men’s Club, it was founded in 1883 and was one of a number of working men’s clubs set up by the Conservative Party in Britain and Ireland when the party felt it needed to win support from the working class.
The closure marks the end of a remarkable piece of history, the club having transformed from its foundation by well-heeled Protestants, including the Earl of Iveagh, to a popular social club for all Dubliners in the 1970s and 1980s. In its heyday, it hosted singer Mary Black and comedian Brendan Grace playing to packed audiences.
The men-only and Protestant-only rules – which were “probably illegal”, says current trustee and club secretary Ed O’Neill – remained in place until a recent decision to wind up the club.
The club’s two buildings, at 20 and 20A Camden Row in Dublin 2, were once a workhouse, then a Protestant hospice and later a school before being bought by the Conservative Club in 1962. Prior to its move to Camden Row, the club was based in a Georgian building on York Street near St Stephen’s Green.
In all, the buildings comprise more than 9,200sq ft, including a large bar and snooker room, a beer garden and offices that are currently rented out to a computer company, a firm of architects and a Pilates studio. Their tenure is not affected by the sale.
The sale offers a potential windfall payment to the surviving members and a notice to existing members concerning the sale was published on Friday.
The twin difficulties of an ageing membership and competition from pubs and nightclubs for the custom of younger people have led to “insurmountable costs”, O’Neill says.
In the hallway, with its red-flock wallpaper, varnished wood and red carpets, there is the fading timber and gold-leaf roll of honour of patrons and presidents.
At its founding, nine of the club’s honorary vice-presidents were titled, seven were MPs and 11 were legal professionals. The titled honorary vice-presidents listed on the board included the Earl of Bandon, Viscount Crichton, a Grand Master of the Orange Institution, and the Earl of Meath. Both Randolph Churchill, the 19th-century UK chancellor of the exchequer and father of Winston, and his rival, Sir Stafford Northcote, another one-time chancellor, were patrons.
The club survived the War of Independence, the Civil War and the exodus of many Protestants.
O’Neill says the political links were dropped in the early part of the last century. “We became conservative with a small ‘c’,” he said.
At its most popular, the club attracted a broad swathe of custom. O’Neill remembers “people 10-deep at the bar”. That bar was salvaged from the Bankers’ Club on St Stephen’s Green in the 1990s.
“There was never any sectarianism shown to us,” says O’Neill, “although in the 1940s I heard someone put a mattress against the door and set it alight.”
The bar was also used for the pub scenes in the television series Love/Hate. “It was used for a few films, but never regularly.
“In recent years the membership was still made up of people who wanted to play snooker, join a sea angling association, a football club or to drink,” says O’Neill.
