"Rock On", T&A, 8 Sept, 1981
THE 1 in 12 Club for claimants at the Metropole, Bradford, looks like it is here to stay.
The club was started because young unemployed people in Bradford could not afford ordinary admission prices to clubs and concerts.
The Claimants Union was started in London to look after the interests of people claiming unemployment benefit or social security.
The Bradford branch decided to start a weekly club which provides cheap live music and also a much needed venue for Bradford bands. They fixed on the Metropole pub in Sunbridge Road, Bradford.
Admission to the events is fixed at 40 pence for non-earners and claimants and 60 pence for everyone else. Each Week the 1 in 12 club has to pay out £5 for the room hire, £3 for posters and leaflets and £5 for disco, and PA equipment, unless the band brings its own.
After these expenses are met, the proceeds are split, 75 per cent to the band and 25 per cent to the Claimants Union.
How much the band earns depends on the number of people who attend, and varies a lot. However, no-one gets in free, even volunteers helping run the gig - or the Telegraph & Argus reporter.
All the decisions about the club are made in a co-operative way, with an open meeting every Thursday at 7 p.m. before the gig and representatives of the Claimants Union on Tuesdays between 10 a. m. and 3 p.m. at 9 Southbrook Terrace, Bradford 308970.
Forthcoming attractions at the 1 in 12 Club are The Modern Scene and Boys from the East on Thursday, Vengeance and Mainline on September 17, The Clause and Reflex on September 24 and other bands. However, anyone interested in playing will be very welcome.