A searching look at the rise and fall of the youth club by renowned cultural documentarian Emma Warren, highlighting the seismic impact they have had on UK culture and why we need to ensure their existence for future generations.

‘Youth clubs have always existed. They always will, because there will always be young people. How we care for our youth, and what we owe them, is a question for all of us.’

In Up the Youth Club, Emma Warren maps the shifting story of youth clubs in the UK and Northern Ireland, from factory workers in Victorian Boys’ and Girls’ clubs to renegade self-emancipatory spaces in the 1970s and the music-generating youth clubs of more recent decades. With a mixed lineage in church evangelism, the patronage of the upper classes, grassroots’ DIY, and erratic state funding, the youth club has had a huge, yet almost invisible, effect on music, sport, culture and society.

Arguing that we cannot advocate for what we do not understand, Warren positions youth clubs as a kind of engine room – from the famous success stories to come out of their doors, such as The Specials or Stormzy, to the untold stories of young people finding shelter, sustenance and stimulation for over a century – and why their dwindling numbers, largely due to austerity and funding cuts, is of serious concern for us all.

With this impassioned history, Warren invites us to pick up the torch and play an active part in protecting and re-igniting this vital part of UK society.