The clubhouse

Several people have asked if we can open the club weekly on a Saturday lunchtime so residents can have a lunchtime pint/play pool. I'm afraid to say that at the moment, this won't be possible and I'll explain why below.

When we lost Kim, Royale decided not to employ another bar manager because the club wasn't being used enough and was losing money. So it was the end of the club as we knew it. Often the bar was open and the landlord was paying wages and heat and lighting but there were only a handful of people in there so it was unsustainable.

The residents association stepped in to try and save the club. We offered to manage it with committee volunteers. We also contacted the council because we feared they were looking to bulldoze the building and add new homes and the landlord has an obligation to provide around 10% recreation space.

Royale got back to us and said we can use the facilities but the offer came with lots of responsibilities.

As well as things like cleaning the club ourselves, there's a multitude of legal responsibilities and potential liabilities for the association. It meant that the committee has to oversee events and activities outside of office hours and act as the responsible body.

I'm afraid at the present time, none of us can commit to adding Saturday lunchtimes to the opening hours. It would mean one of us staying for 3-4 hours then cleaning and locking up afterwards. We're all volunteers and already maxed-out with the time we're spending running the association and managing the club.

Luckily, we've turned the club around and it's now really well used. Thanks to my fellow committee members for giving up their time, it's now the hub of the community. We already have regular band nights, quiz nights and pub nights and everyone's welcome at them. The club is busier now than it ever was. However, we do appreciate that some people just want a quiet bar to play pool and darts with nothing else laid on. So, committee members had a chat about how we might be able to provide that.

We can make the bar room available on some Friday and Saturday nights when we're doing other things in the hall like quizzes. That way there's already a committee member on the premises.

We'll give it a go and advertise dates as and when but will look to start this within a few weeks. We hope this helps those who want to come out and socialise but not actually be at an organised event.