What's On...
About Us
The Newnham Club is a not-for-profit organisation (set up as a Friendly Society with Charitable status). The Old Town Hall with the Newnham Club within it, is situated on the High Street about 100 metres below the Newnham Clock Tower.
We are a vibrant community hub for theatre, music, film and many other fantastic events. It’s an incredible venue whether you simply want to catch up with friends over a drink or a meal, watch Sky or TNT Sports, organise children’s or adult’s parties, attend charity nights, or just kick-back and have a game of darts, pool, skittles or snooker with your family and friends.
We’re a venue for young and old alike, with groups including the Newnham Players, Newnham Film Club, Pilates with Esther, Spotlight Dance Studio and Silver Hand Sword Fighting Club using the wonderful function room. All of our facilities are provided by the Club’s Membership for members, their guests and non-members alike. There is also a beautiful garden at the rear of the property, perfect for families and anyone who wants to play connect four and jenga or just soak up the sun with a cool drink.
Catering
We’re delighted to have a caterer who offers a number of different services, including lunches (OAP Deal available) each Friday from 12-2pm, filled rolls on Friday nights and Saturday lunchtimes, themed events and pre-booking of catering for parties, meetings, sports/charity dinners and wakes.
For more information or a discussion regarding your needs contact us or simply call us during opening hours: 01594 516379
Room & Event Bookings
Large Events/Parties
We have the most fantastic function room/events space which can be booked with or without a ‘staffed’ bar for adult parties, children’s parties, dinners and meetings. The space can hold up to 110 people for a non-seated music-based event and has staging and a lighting array that can adapt if a band or DJ is booked for example. Our fantastic events space can also function as a ‘sit-down’ dining room (80 people) for large anniversaries, birthday parties and weddings.
Bookings are available exclusively to Members! Please contact us to tell us about your needs and book our large events space…
Skittle Alley & Beer Garden
Our Skittle Alley can be booked on evenings when league and normal fixtures are not running (during the season). Outside of the season, the alley can be booked for a group of friends or family to get together and just have some fun. Please note that the alley is booked without a ‘sticker-up’ so groups will need to deal with the return of the skittles balls to bowlers amongst themselves, or arrange for a ‘sticker-up’ upon booking.
The Skittle Alley can also be booked for casual, social or organised groups’ meetings during afternoons or evenings.
We have a stunning Beer Garden with plenty to offer – including a BBQ! It is the perfect place to relax, play games and have a few drinks with family and friends.
Hire of our Skittle Alley & Beer Garden is available exclusively to Members! Please contact us for information and to hire our Alley or Garden.
Membership
Guests and new members are always welcome and it is simply a quirk of the Building and Club’s historic constitution, that membership even exists. At £15 per member, per year and with the ability to enjoy not just the social activities that the Club offers, its very reasonable drinks prices (and cheaper events and room bookings for members), but to also be a part of an active community who influence the maintenance and running of Newnham’s (and one of the Forest of Dean’s) biggest and best venues, we think it represents fantastic value for money.
Without existing members and future new members, eventually Newnham’s primary venue would decline and without the active current membership and the support of groups like the Players, it is certain that the Club would have foundered during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Opinions will always vary, but we are clear that our members and committee come from all facets of local society and are central to the preservation of a significant village landmark with a rich history. We are proud of maintaining not just the building with its facilities, but also its financial independence. Guests will always be welcome and we hope in time will opt to become part of our community. We are a community that simply wishes to support and maintain the Newnham Club and hope you’ll also decide it’s worthy of £15 annually.
Join In!
To join the Newnham Club you can simply pop into the Club to submit your form/s and subscription/s.
You are more than welcome to call in as a guest, and talk to one of our welcoming staff members or our Manager, Emily Harrison. We hope you’ll make the decision to join us and support the maintenance of this important Newnham institution.
If you’re already engaged as a member, or members of the Newnham Club, we Thank You!
We are an eclectic mix of people who love the Club’s 173 years plus of history and the facilities of an amazing village asset, wishing only to preserve it for years and generations to come.
Who We Are
Club Manager: Emily Harrison
Club Chair: Andy Willis
Club Treasurer: Mike Smith
Club Secretary: Bill Powell
Questions for the Committee? Get in Touch
Get in Touch
Newnham Club, High Street, Newnham, GL14 1BS
Call us: 01594 516379
General Enquiries: info@newnhamclub.co.uk
Bookings: bookings@newnhamclub.co.uk
Opening Hours
(Please note that last orders are 30 minutes before close)
Monday: 17:00 – 22:30
Tuesday 17:00 – 22:30
Wednesday CLOSED
Thursday 17:00 – 22:30
Friday 12:00 – 23:00
Saturday 12:00 – 23:00
Sunday 12:00 – 22:30
Gallery
Our History
The building was constructed in 1849 to provide Subscription Rooms. The land was purchased in 1848 for £310 and any existing buildings were demolished with the Subscription Rooms and cottage then built at a cost of £1,750. The Subscription Rooms were run by a committee for the purpose of magisterial meetings, County Courts and concerts, plus any other public or private functions as agreed by the committee. It also had designated lecture and reading rooms.
By 1879 Samuel Wilkinson Woods obtained all of the shares and the Subscription Rooms were conveyed to him. It appears that it was at about this time that the building then became known as the Town Hall.
Ownership of the building remained with the Woods family until 1920 when it was sold by the Misses Charlotte Emma and Mabel Kate Woods to the Trustees of the Newnham Branch of the Comrades of the Great War. The committee of the Comrades Club resolved to purchase the premises at its meeting held on the 5th of June 1920 for a sum of £1,550.
The Trustees held the premises known as “The Town Hall” together with the Cottage and Garden on trust for Members of the Club. It was renamed the Comrades Hall, but by 1939 had become Newnham Club as it is known today.
Newnham Club has a Membership which includes people from all walks of life, age groups and interests and is used variously by individuals, teams, charities & society groups.
Accessibility
The Newnham Club is a Grade II listed building in a conservation area, so for wheelchair users, we have a wheelchair transit machine to navigate the front steps. We also have gently sloping side access with a few low steps into the building for those with hampered mobility, and stair-lifts from the ground-floor to the first-floor.
Please contact us prior to visiting us, so that you can let us know how our staff can best support you during your visit.
All Rights Reserved. Copyright The Newnham Club 2022.
