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Research on politicisation has stressed the role of specific social spaces on the development of political practices, or even of a political consciousness, among more dominated individuals. But the ‘Maisons du peuple’ have attracted little attention to date. This article examines the Maison du peuple organised by the socialist cooperative La Paix in Roubaix from 1885 to 1914. We study its role within social relationships. Analysing the politicisation of workers’ traditional sociability, this article then examines the effects of politicisation on individuals and groups who attended La Paix. We emphasize the difficulty of accurately tracing individual trajectories of politicisation; however frequenting the Maison du peuple may have constituted the springboard for a political career and, more generally, fostered the formation of a local working-class consciousness.