Is going to the circus a working class activity?

[Gooseinthewood]

I was born and raised quite working class, husband middle class.
I saw tickets advertised for a circus in a nearby town and arranged to take our children. He came along and appreciated the silliness but commented that he was surprised I took them as it's quite a low class activity. Bit tongue in cheek. He doesn't really care, but typically we are more theatre / rugby types.

I have to say he's probably right but I didn't really realise this is a thing.

It’s not an activity that I’m surprised to hear people being snobby about.

Meanwhile, I’m a lower class council estate brokie and I’m saving up to take my son to see Les misérables in London 😁

What pray is a working class activity? Surely the stuff people enjoy doing is personal to that individual?
I'm not even sure ehat working class and middle class even mean any more?

We went to Giffords circus last year and I felt I didn't really belong. I cringe when I remember the looks I got when I carried in a pint of lager after the interval.

Glad you clarified that you worked very hard to earn your place. Yikes! I hope your children didn’t catch anything from the working class peasants there. Threads like this make me despair, why are we worrying about class in 2026?

The late queen loved a pantomime

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-64077710

Careful…if they hear that they may refuse you in lest you forget your ‘place’

I really don’t understand why some people think that certain activities should only be undertaken by people of a particular class.

Have you never hear of Giffords? They tour the Cotswolds and the (late) founder is Emma Bridgewater’s sister, that’s pretty MC.

@calexico Don’t be so ridiculous! People just didn’t want it spilt down their backs! There’s usually lots of dc so no one wants drink spilt over them.

I’m genuinely asking anyone here who may have the answer.
WHAT do people considered stereotypical middle classs families actually DO. I’m on holiday with my kids right now and everywhere there are people in tracksuits boys with that haircut etc. people doing things considered working class behaviour on here.
In fact everywhere I go that’s kids centric is like this. I don’t see any of the gooseberry yogurt/boden wearing type people that are spoken about on here irl. Now even the circus isn’t safe.

And yes I take my kids to museums and castles. WHERE DO PEOPLE CONSIDERED TYPICALLY MIDDLE CLASS ACTUALLY TAKE THEIR KIDS? Do these people actually even exist outside of the internet

For someone who is so called middle class your husband is very rude and judgemental.
You are probably very well suited given your own judgemental comments on the other members of the audience.
Better not tell the members of your social circle that you visited the circus. Imagine their horror. 😱

@Samanthapiggles Rock in Cornwall or similar. Never Disney. North Norfolk. Anywhere where they have houses really! Educated type parents will be in Peru or Kenya with DC. And no - parents won’t have tracksuits and boys won’t have that haircut. Stand outside an expensive Oreo school and note the dc and parents. You might see the odd tracky bums but only very posh ones in the way to yoga.

I think circuses sit outside class, they’re silly and a bit subversive.

Awwwww never Disney…are you joking. Of course middle class people go to Disney, I know hundreds of middle class people who go to Disney.

I (begrudgingly) would identify as middle class, though I very much feel working class, and I’m sat on a plane on the way to Walt Disney World right now.

Oof I’m in one of the places you mentioned right now and I’m definitely seeing the majority of little boys wearing tracksuits with partly shaved heads. Certainly none of them are eating gooseberry yogurt and I haven’t heard any “performative talking to toddler language” (there was a thread on here about that once lol) .

Im starting to think the stereotypical middle class family dosent actually exist outside of internet memes.
Practically everyone I come across with kids meets the mumsnet description of working class (as per hobbies, interests and fashion not money or job).

So many of these bullshit made up threads on here today.

I grew up in a middle class area of the home counties and the circus was always well attended when it passed through. I now live somewhere slightly less salubrious and still enjoy a circus visit.

I don't think it is "class" dependent..! The audience just tends to reflect the demographics of the area.

Do people really talk like this?

The Circus is for the working class dear, why did you take them? Ffs.

Wow, in the Cotswolds we have the poshest circus ever known! It’s seriously ‘aspirational’ (Giffords Circus). It’s the place to be!

Perhaps it depends which one!

Lol. Disney is full of middle class parents spouting nonsense about how they've given in to the Disney life and sporting Mickey Mouse ears.

Rock is for wannabees.

I think we might have had quite different experiences of pantomime. I’m not a huge fan of the slapstick humour that is often associated with panto, but not all pantomimes rely on that type of humour. Some are much more subtle and witty, and I think the quality can vary enormously depending on the production. The last one we saw was Beauty and the Beast and it was quite moving tbh. I guess it was more like a play.

Giffords Circus is very much a middle class affair.

They perform at Sudeley Castle and Blenheim Palace.

@TomatoGlut So? Plenty of other venues too where there is council housing! Just have a fun night!

Middle class people never go to Disney? What piffle.

I was raised with a very upwardly mobile family. Hyacinth Bucket style. Parents and GPs absolutely obsessed with being MC. No dear, that's not for people like us. Only common people do that.. such WC banned activities included going to funfairs, hanging laundry on the line and a multitude of other random nonsensical acts. However we went to the circus. The snobby family members have now passed away but there is a part of me gleeful that they never heard of this stereotype. Not only did I get to love a circus but the other Hyacinth Buckets of the town were probably shocked and horrified to see us there