"Youth clubs have always existed. They always will, because there will always be young people."

A searching look and empassioned love letter to the youth club by renowned 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, 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 fascinating 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 - join us in being a part of that!

The author

Emma Warren has been documenting grassroots culture for decades. She is the author of Make Some Space (2019) which was a MOJO book of the year; Steam Down (2019) which was published by Rough Trade Books and named an Irish Times read of the year; and Document Your Culture (2020). Dance Your Way Home (2023) was a Guardian book of the year. A dual citizen or Ireland and the UK, she worked on staff at The Face and as the editorial mentor at youth-run Brixton publication Live Magazine. Her monthly radio show on Worldwide FM ran for six years.

The chair

Rosie Hampton is a researcher and writer from Glasgow, who’s interested in how radical spaces have supported political organising past and present. Her research looks at 1980s Scotland and the myriad of political spaces that once existed, such as unemployed workers’ centres, bookshops, social clubs, and women’s centres. Her recent article ‘Where is the Left?’ captures these sentiments and was published in the New Internationalist in October 2025.

Description supplied by the event organiser.