A SPORTS and social club started more than a century ago is to call time weeks after it was robbed.

The Cycle Club in Dixon Street started up in 1896, but by 2012 it was struggling for survival and urgently appealing for new members to join.

Now it is preparing to say goodbye to its 120 members on bank holiday Monday.

No one from the club was available for comment yesterday and the telephone number is now out of service.

But member Paul Healey, who goes on a Sunday, said: “It is a pity, especially for some of the older folk who play bingo.”

He believed the club had been under pressure financially for a while, especially from nearby clubs and people choosing to drink at home.

Just two weeks ago police launched an appeal for witnesses after a robber wearing a balaclava went into the main bar at 11.45pm on July 28 and assaulted the barman and demanded cash from him as he was locking up.

Five years ago committee members were trying to recruit new members in a bid to keep going.

At that time secretary Mick Lewis told the Advertiser more members were needed to pay the annual £5 fee to be sure the club stayed financially viable.

Members had dropped from 200 to 150 and the cost of running the facility was rising.

The building in Eastcott was used as a form of village hall for the area and in the past local organisations hired it for community projects and events.

According to Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre the club, one of the oldest in Swindon, was so popular shortly after it started that plans were made to extend it even though it already had a skittles alley, bar, cellar and assembly room.

Although it started as a club for keen cyclists it eventually lost the sporting link and became a family social club.

Brewery Arkell's, which owns the building, said it was not an Arkell's pub but it was let to the club on “usual and reasonable landlord - tenant terms.”