YET another working men’s club in the town is facing closure due to spiralling debts.

According to members, the Ferndale Working Men’s Club, in Ferndale Road, is set to sell off its function rooms and skittle alley to help pay off debts of £66,000.

A decision was made on the best way forward during a crisis meeting held last week which all members were invited to attend.

One member who attended the meeting but wished to remain anonymous, contacted the Adver to say she was angry with the way the meeting had been conducted.

She said: “The meeting was absolutely shambolic because everybody was shouting over one another and nobody could vote properly.

“Three choices were given to the members – there is a house next to the club that they rent out, the first choice was to sell that, the second choice was to sell the function rooms and skittle alley, or the third option was to sell the whole site.

“The function rooms and skittle alley has been valued at £225,000, the house was valued at £150,000 and the whole lot is worth £500,000 apparently. The decision to sell the function rooms and alley came after the vote, which was 29/4, out of 42 people.

“They said that they would have needed money to do the club up because it is a bit of a dive, but the sale of the house would have still given them the best part of £100,000 spare.

“Nobody got a chance to ask anything, people were just shouting, it was ridiculous.”

The Adver attempted to contact the Ferndale Working Men's Club committee on several occasions yesterday but to no avail.

The news comes just weeks after the Milton Road Club, which has existed under various names since the 1920s, announced it was up for sale after struggling with debts and dwindling membership.

Members voted unanimously at an AGM earlier in the year to close it and sell the clubhouse to pay its creditors. The club, which is set to close in two weeks after being given a reprieve, is expected to raise about £300,000 following a large amount of interest in the building.

Meanwhile, Morris Street Working Men’s Club, which recently went into receivership, has been brought back from the brink thanks to a new owner.

The club in Rodbourne has been taken over by Margaret Burns, a member who previously ran the White House pub, in the town centre.