Men only at the Gale was old-fashioned for '87
1987
Mike also said: "One of the things that I did notice when I came here (late 80s) was that there was a real demarcation between where men socialised and where women socialised. Women tended to go to Partners whereas The Jester was almost exclusively male. And the other thing as well - and this was a real disappointment to me was that there were no women at all in the 'Gale' (Nightingale). Women weren't allowed. They certainly weren't allowed as members because it was a members' club. They might have been allowed in as guests and consequently you could go to the 'Gale and there'd be not even a handful, not even four or five women sometimes - it was just wall-to-wall men ... and I found that a bit strange...odd...old-fashioned...it was something that was rooted in the past". Mike explained that the Manchester scene was much more integrated though not exclusively so and felt that this was because the Manchester scene was much more political. "It was a beacon of hope. It wasn't the way things should be but there was certainly more integration between men and women."
Contributed by: Mike