Shiregreen resident's hopes working men's club made famous by Full Monty film can be saved

John Sheldon, aged 66, got in touch with The Star after hearing the club made famous by Oscar-winning film The Full Monty might be demolished in less than a month if no way of saving it can be found.

John met his wife Sylvia at the club when they were just 18 and said the venue holds so many memories for him, his family and the whole community.

He said: “There used to be 400 odd people in the concert room alone and then there was the lounge as well. People who couldn’t get in used to sit on crates out the back.

“Some people had fights but they used fists rather than knives and they would shake hands and buy each other a drink the next week. It was a really good atmosphere.”

John was born in Shiregreen in the 1950s and remembers a ‘rough and ready’ but tight-knit estate.

“Everyone knew everybody else and would rally round and help,” he said.

“It was all steelworkers and their families who lived there. There was also the Roman Ridge pub but that’s been demolished as well.

“People around here want somewhere where they go out with their family and have a drink and a nice meal.

"You can do that in places like Ecclesall but this side of Sheffield has been neglected.”

John also fondly remembered the club’s trips to the seaside, with the children being given spending money and everyone getting a fish and chip tea before coming home.

Sheffield Councillor Peter Price, who used to run his surgeries from the club in the 1970s and has been trying to save the club from demolition, said he was still hopeful a solution could be found.

He said: “There has been some interest so I am more hopeful than I was but nothing has come of it yet.

“If a community group can come along to run the concert hall, the owner would be able to get a reduction in his business rates which would probably make the bar more profitable.”