Clwb Ifor Bach
Encyclopedia
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
nightclub
Nightclub
A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...
, music venue
Music venue
A music venue is any location used for a concert or musical performance. Music venues range in size and location, from an outdoor bandshell or bandstand or a concert hall to an indoor sports stadium. Typically, different types of venues host different genres of music...
, Welsh-language
Welsh language
Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...
club
Club
A club is an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal. A service club, for example, exists for voluntary or charitable activities; there are clubs devoted to hobbies and sports, social activities clubs, political and religious clubs, and so forth.- History...
and community centre
Community centre
Community centres or community centers or jumping recreation centers are public locations where members of a community tend to gather for group activities, social support, public information, and other purposes. They may sometimes be open for the whole community or for a specialised group within...
. It is known to the Cardiff Welsh-speaking community as Clwb (Welsh: (The) Club) and is often known by others on the Cardiff music scene
Cardiff music scene
The music of Cardiff has been dominated mainly by rock music since the early 1990s with later trends developing towards more extreme styles of the genre such as heavy metal, post-hardcore and emo music....
as The Welsh Club.
Clwb Ifor Bach is used as a social centre by Welsh
Welsh language
Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...
speaking people in Cardiff, as well as by many non-Welsh speakers. Until recent years, the club had a number of regular members only nights. This policy has been discontinued. Clwb Ifor Bach is the focal point for many Welsh-medium organisations and events in the area: social, educational, sporting and otherwise. English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
and Welsh are spoken equally throughout the club, and most staff are required to be bilingual. No anti-Welsh sentiment is tolerated in the club.
Location
Clwb Ifor Bach is located in central CardiffCardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
, halfway down Womanby Street, a lane running from the front of Cardiff Castle
Cardiff Castle
Cardiff Castle is a medieval castle and Victorian architecture Gothic revival mansion, transformed from a Norman keep erected over a Roman fort in the Castle Quarter of Cardiff, the capital of Wales. The Castle is a Grade I Listed Building.-The Roman fort:...
, parallel to High Street/St Mary Street). At either end of Womanby Street are The City Arms, opposite the Millennium Stadium
Millennium Stadium
The Millennium Stadium is the national stadium of Wales, located in the capital, Cardiff. It is the home of the Wales national rugby union team and also frequently stages games of the Wales national football team, but is also host to many other large scale events, such as the Super Special Stage...
, and Dempsey's Irish Bar, opposite the castle. The club faces the rear of the Wetherspoons
Wetherspoons
J D Wetherspoon plc is a British pub chain based in Watford. Founded as a single pub in 1979 by Tim Martin, the company now owns 815 outlets. The chain champions cask ale, low prices, long opening hours, and no music. The company also operates the Lloyds No...
pub 'The Gatekeeper', the front entrance of which is located on Westgate Street.
History
Clwb Ifor Bach has existed since 1983 and was founded by Welsh politician Owen John ThomasOwen John Thomas
Owen John Thomas MA is a former Plaid Cymru politician who represented the South Wales Central region in the National Assembly for Wales from 1999 to 2007.-Background:...
. It is named after Ifor Bach
Ifor Bach
Ifor Bach also known as Ifor ap Meurig and in anglicised form Ivor Bach, lord of Senghenydd, was a twelfth century resident in and a leader of the Welsh in south Wales.- Welsh Lord of Senghenydd :...
, a local rebel
Rebellion
Rebellion, uprising or insurrection, is a refusal of obedience or order. It may, therefore, be seen as encompassing a range of behaviors aimed at destroying or replacing an established authority such as a government or a head of state...
against English rule during the 12th century.
The club used to be members-only, with membership limited to Welsh-speakers or those committed to learning the Welsh language. This rule was rescinded in the late 1990s. The club still employs a members only policy during exceptionally busy times, for example when a major rugby international is played at the Millennium Stadium.
The building
The club is contained within an unassuming three-storey building. There is a bar, stage and dance floor on each level, varying in size from level to level. The top floor is the largest. The physical fabric of the club underwent a fairly major overhaul in the 1990s.Music
The club is an important and enduring part of the Cardiff music sceneCardiff music scene
The music of Cardiff has been dominated mainly by rock music since the early 1990s with later trends developing towards more extreme styles of the genre such as heavy metal, post-hardcore and emo music....
. There are regular performances of live music on the club's stages. There are also regular themed music nights on a week-to-week basis, during which one of the club's floors may be given over to a particular musical genre for an evening. The range of music played is very wide, and includes reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
, folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
, hip-hop
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
, pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
, rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
, dubstep, drum and bass, house, electro, Welsh
Music of Wales
Wales has a strong and distinctive link with music. The country is traditionally referred to as "the land of song". This is a modern stereotype based on 19th century conceptions of Nonconformist choral music and 20th century male voice choirs, Eisteddfodau and arena singing, such as sporting...
and more. In addition to the membership fee, there may be an additional door fee for specific floors or bands.
Events
Events are listed on the club's website and on the noticeboard in the foyer. As well as musical events, other events take place, such as society meetings, conversational evenings, or watching rugby unionRugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
on the big screen.