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Paisley Liberal Club
A plaque outside the entrance door to the social club.
The Liberal Club was formed in 1881. Prior to opening their own property, businessman and landed gentry discussed topics in the YMCA building on the High Street. After they decided to find their own premises, they initially rented rooms in a building at Forbes Place for £40 a year. At this time, the club boasted 380 members. The council passed a motion that swelled funds and permitted the construction of the liberal club in 1886, costing £11,000. When the Marquis of Ripon inaugurated the premises, membership of the club had grown to 1,200. It was just the century later after many debates, that the club allowed women to join in 1980.
The building features various bars and private suites, one of which had been converted into a snooker hall at some point, and housed Paisley's snooker competitions. Not long before closure in 2016, an article depicted the complications the club had undergone throughout it's later years, such as having it's license suspended, poor management and incidents like underage drinking, public disorder and hospitalisations. It is currently up for sale without an owner.
This is one of those places that is ingeniously codenamed online but takes about two minutes to find. Originally, we had this pinned as a backup if everything else went wrong due to it's unlikely town-centre location, but our luck was going so well in the opening few days of our Scottish road trip in September that we figured 'why not?' Although we had confirmation that the building was recently sealed, a simple entrance was quickly found and it was so relaxed that we nipped for some lunch before returning with Hi-vis equipped to head inside.
Internally, the structure is quite stunning for a building of it's nature. The ornate coves and ceilings, multiple stained glass windows and carved bannisters make it a shame that it is out of use. We enjoyed having a walk around the structure for the afternoon and playing some snooker. Visited with @jtza and @huyt.urb .
Snooker hall.
Middle corridor.
Grand entrance door that meets with street level.
'John McNab' Suite
'Wee' Bar.
Main staircase with more nice stained glass.
Upstairs ballroom. It appeared that it had been refurbished before closure.
Miscellaneous rooms upstairs. It got very modern all of a sudden and seemed as if these spaces had only recently become vacant.
Here is the link to our documentary styled video covering the snooker club. We showcase it's past, present and future through cinematics narration:
Thanks for reading
A plaque outside the entrance door to the social club.
The Liberal Club was formed in 1881. Prior to opening their own property, businessman and landed gentry discussed topics in the YMCA building on the High Street. After they decided to find their own premises, they initially rented rooms in a building at Forbes Place for £40 a year. At this time, the club boasted 380 members. The council passed a motion that swelled funds and permitted the construction of the liberal club in 1886, costing £11,000. When the Marquis of Ripon inaugurated the premises, membership of the club had grown to 1,200. It was just the century later after many debates, that the club allowed women to join in 1980.
The building features various bars and private suites, one of which had been converted into a snooker hall at some point, and housed Paisley's snooker competitions. Not long before closure in 2016, an article depicted the complications the club had undergone throughout it's later years, such as having it's license suspended, poor management and incidents like underage drinking, public disorder and hospitalisations. It is currently up for sale without an owner.
This is one of those places that is ingeniously codenamed online but takes about two minutes to find. Originally, we had this pinned as a backup if everything else went wrong due to it's unlikely town-centre location, but our luck was going so well in the opening few days of our Scottish road trip in September that we figured 'why not?' Although we had confirmation that the building was recently sealed, a simple entrance was quickly found and it was so relaxed that we nipped for some lunch before returning with Hi-vis equipped to head inside.
Internally, the structure is quite stunning for a building of it's nature. The ornate coves and ceilings, multiple stained glass windows and carved bannisters make it a shame that it is out of use. We enjoyed having a walk around the structure for the afternoon and playing some snooker. Visited with @jtza and @huyt.urb .
Snooker hall.
Middle corridor.
Grand entrance door that meets with street level.
'John McNab' Suite
'Wee' Bar.
Main staircase with more nice stained glass.
Upstairs ballroom. It appeared that it had been refurbished before closure.
Miscellaneous rooms upstairs. It got very modern all of a sudden and seemed as if these spaces had only recently become vacant.
Here is the link to our documentary styled video covering the snooker club. We showcase it's past, present and future through cinematics narration:
Thanks for reading
