Carlisle Subscription Bowling Club

History

The oldest bowling club in the city. It dates to 1865, when Carlisle's merchants and businessmen put a green in near the centre, on ground behind Lonsdale Street and Spencer Street. They lost it in 1879, when a coachbuilding company took up the lease of the land, and the club moved to where it still is, behind Myddleton Street and Broad Street.

The new green had no pavilion at first. The Swiss-style building the club calls the Bower opened in 1897 and is still the clubhouse, with a conservatory added across the front so spectators can watch a match in comfort. In 2014 the club won lottery money through Sport England's Inspirational Facilities programme and rebuilt the back of it over that winter, finishing in February 2015: proper disabled access and toilet, new ladies' and gents', and a changing room big enough to be worth the name.

It is an affiliate member of Bowls England and its own bye-laws set the tone of the place: bowling shoes on the green, no running, no smoking or vaping anywhere, and no drinking on the green at all except for functions the committee has approved in advance. The bar is for members and their guests, as at any club with a club premises certificate rather than a licence. Certificate CP010 has run since 24 November 2011.

It is busy. The 2026 season has a full fixture list, a president in Bryan Steel, an open doubles tournament in August and a triples in May, and a run of local sponsors round the green.