David Parkin wonders where you go to meet the great and good of business
IT is the end of an era.
News reaches me from reader Dave Robbins that one of the last traditional business bastions in Yorkshire has recently shut its doors.
The Bradford Club, a meeting place for the great and good of the city for more than 260 years, has closed.
With past members such as Sir Titus Salt, the father of the composer Frederick Delius and Sir Ken Morrison, one of the last Victorian gentlemen’s clubs has now gone.
Members say that The Bradford Club, which had been in decline since the closure of the city’s Wool Exchange in the 1970s, suffered from many challenges.
From elderly members moving out of Bradford to law and accountancy firms moving to Leeds, the club, which you enter through a Romanesque arch next to a bookmakers on paved Piece Hall Yard, had struggled in recent years.
Covid saw people’s working habits change and then the war in Ukraine saw a hike in energy prices which was another blow.
And so the club, which allowed women to join in 1990, closed its doors last month with the building, once containing a dining room, billiard room and bar and lounge, acquired by the owners of a nearby pub, the City Vaults and will become a hospitality venue.
Hopefully they will be as sympathetic as brewery Marston’s was when it converted the old Leeds Club on Albion Place into The Lost & Found Leeds Club bar and restaurant.
Elements of the old merchants’ meeting place have been retained including the historic toilets and floor tiling while modern touches have been added including a giant olive tree in the centre of the ground floor bar - which used to be a dining room which always had the faint whiff of gammon and pineapple.
While the impressive staircase in The Bradford Club will remain, I wonder what will happen to the busts of Gladstone and Disraeli that you used to pass as you ascended towards the bar and dining room.
By my reckoning it now leaves The Harrogate Club as perhaps the only formal “business club” in Yorkshire.
These traditional business clubs might have a crusty and boring reputation - lampooned in characters like The Fast Show’s Roly Birkin QC - but I only ever found the people I met in those clubs charming, welcoming and fascinating.
When Dave Robbins informed me of the impending closure of The Bradford Club, he invited me to join him and his wife for a final lunch at the venue.
Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get there before it shut its doors.
Dave reported back: “On the morning we were due to meet, the Bradford Club's erstwhile boss, Vanessa, phoned me with profuse apologies. Their chef had phoned in ill. We were still welcome but our repast would be reduced to sandwiches or scampi and chips.
“As a man of a certain age I can remember the days when scampi and chips were quite the thing - often served in a basket. Typing that last bit has made me gasp with both amusement and disbelief.
“Anyway, as I'd hastily arranged your replacement -- the ever-dapper and gregarious Graham Duckworth, Driver Hire's franchise sales director, we decided to proceed. Whilst not the three-courser to which I'd looked forward, it was ok. The scampi was exactly what I'd expected, washed down with a pleasant Merlot and plenty of good conversation, a couple of hours passed pleasantly away before we bid farewell to this once bastion of business in Bradford.”
My memories of my last visit to The Bradford Club are very positive.
It was a black tie dinner put on to celebrate the 60th birthday of leading accountant Tim Parr.
Tim pulled out all the stops and flew in comedian Jimmy Cricket who gave a virtuoso performance in his trademark tailcoat and welly boots with ‘L’ and ‘R’ etched in marker pen on the front.
So farewell to The Bradford Club.
I know the world moves on, but it doesn’t mean that we won’t miss what is left behind.
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IN a footnote added to his email, Dave Robbins said: “Regarding your recent blog and letter of complaint from the world of rugby union. I would take issue with Wharfedale's ground being the finest in the country. It houses the coldest and most miserable changing rooms I've ever had the displeasure of derobing in.”
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UNLIKE a lot of people on Linkedin, I’m not a big one for blowing my own trumpet.
Yes, I’ll write about some of the work I do, or the charities I support, but only because I think it will highlight some interesting people and organisations and it might prove informative and entertaining for those reading it.
Perhaps it is my journalistic background, but it isn’t for me to tell you how good I think what I’m doing is, or write in such a self-approving way as to leave you in little doubt about why you should share my own inflated opinion of myself.
This trend of faux modesty, essentially highlighting how you have done a really good thing but dressing it up by talking about the “learnings” from the experience, is exhausting.
I can’t work out whether this business social media platform is crammed full of good samaritans or self righteous virtue signallers.
I hope it is the first, but I have my doubts.
Perhaps I’m reminded of my childhood, where displays of conceit and boastfulness were curtly dismissed with the words: “Stop showing off.”
I’ve always felt that what I think of what I do is essentially irrelevant: the real judges are others and they have got to make up their own minds - they don’t need any guidance from me.
This rare period of introspection was prompted by a couple of comments - completely unsolicited, I may add - I received recently.
Firstly, regular blog reader Christine Boothroyd, who runs The Chambers luxury serviced apartments in Leeds, added this comment to a recent blog: “Brilliant as usual! A must read email in a sea of dross! Make a cuppa, take 5 minutes and be entertained!”
My immediate reaction to that compliment was that it was very nice and flattering, but it doesn’t half put the pressure on me to attempt to be entertaining in future pieces of writing.
Thanks Christine!
And then my recent blog about compering a ball for AABIE, the charitable trust of financial services group AAB, received some very kind and favourable feedback, including this from AABIE itself: “Thank you so much for your kind words, David. We AABsolutely loved having you as our compere at this year’s AABIE Ball - you brought such energy and charm to the night. It was a fantastic evening, and you played a big part in making it so special!”
Of course it is nice to receive compliments, but they are worth a lot more when you don’t go looking for them, or worse, encourage them.
Anyway, I’m getting self-conscious.
That’s enough about me.
Tell me what you think about me in the comments section below.
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I READ a news story this week about a public relations agency from Manchester that is supporting the launch of a brand new dating venture called SoberLove.
Apparently this new dating app is “designed for the sober and sober-curious community”.
Sober-curious?
I’m not sure I ever have been.
Have a great weekend.
Fond memories of the Bradford Club. In the mid eighties I was president of the Bradford Publicity Association. My year in charge meant I found the speakers and one of the hottest names that year was Eddie Shah, publisher of 'Today' - Britain's first national colour newspaper. I was proud of my 'scoop' when he agreed and invites went out for the event at the Bradford Club. Some members were senior Bradford T&A staff and the invite came to the attention of the 'father of the chapel' who told the editor that either an article went on the front page saying someone had invited this 'scum' to Bradford or there would be no front page. It became headlines. Then I was told the event would be picketed. I felt I had to inform the police who asked me to get Eddie's reg number so two police motorcyclists could meet him on the M606 and guide him in. Two vans or riot police were parked round the corner but the pickets -some in full British Rail uniform - were peaceful. The following day another T&A article appeared demanding to know who would pick up the tab for policing a private meeting. Happy memories of the Bradford Club.