User:Lbomars/Unity House Loughborough

Unity House, Loughborough ... Unity House, 21 Fennel Street Loughborough is the current (2011) headquarters of Loughborough Labour Party. It has an interesting history, being bought and donated to the Labour Party by the MP Mont Follick in 1947. It was originally a Medical Aid Co-operative, built in 1871. Members paid 1d per week and doctors were employed from the subscriptions. After the turn of the century in became the Oddfellows Friendly Society Headquarters. During World war 2 the building was taken over by he government and run as a British Restaurant, providing cheap and nourishing food.The building is built in the classic style of the time with locally kilned Tuckers bricks and sandstone facade. The current women's toilets are built form the dumb waiter installed during the war to serve food in the upstairs hall. Unity House became the meeting place for the Labour and Trade Union movement from 1947 until the present day. The original MP's agent Bill Banner had his office there and when John Cronin became MP, Martin Gallagher and later Mike Shuker also were based there. The Building was visited by a number of national politicians such James Griffiths (1947), Roy Jenkins (1974), Jim Callaghan (prime minister) 1979. Unity House was the place chosen by David Owen to make a speech for the BBC (Vincent Hanna) and launch his breakaway SDP party. During the 1970's and 80's the upstairs hall was used as a Bingo Hall by the labour party to raise political funds. In the 1990's a club selling beer was established. It was the headquarters also from 1997 until 2010 of the MP Andy Reed.