‘Rowdy’ club bowled over by gripes
It was down to a handful of active, mostly elderly members, and they played bowls. But their club is facing closure for being too rowdy.
The Newtown Workingmens Bowling Club in Wellington has existed for 65 years, and was once featured on the TV news for being one of the friendliest bowling clubs, as nominated by a neighbour.
Nowadays, those neighbours are more likely to complain to the Wellington City Council, which has received 34 noise complaints about the club in the past 10 years, and has issued eight noise direction notices.
Its critics say it’s not so much a bowls club as a cheap drinking hole. A handle of beer costs $5, vodka and gin are $3 each, and wine is $5 a glass.
The council says the club, which sits in Wellington’s Town Belt at the top of Owen St, has converted its umpire room into a smoking room, derives its income from bar and hire receipts, and has not applied for its special liquor licence for the past six years. Nor does the club promote ‘‘healthy lifestyles’’, as it is meant to do under Town Belt rules.
The club says the umpire room is used for storing outdoor furniture.
Council parks, sport and recreation manager Paul Andrews said four noise complaints had been received this year, and the environmental noise team was asked to investigate.
Last week, an informal meeting was held between club officials, councillors and council staff to discuss the end of the bowling club’s lease.
Former city councillor Paul
Eagle, now the MP for
Rongotai, was at the meeting, and said council officers were adamant they wanted to close the club.
Eagle said the time was right to find an alternative use for the club, as people’s recreational activities had changed. ‘‘Closing it is not an option.’’
Club secretary of 25 years Ellen Hepburn said the club was told initially to be out by Christmas, but now had until April to make changes.
Since the threat of closure, the club had signed up 300 new members, at a fee of $5 each. It had also held a Facebook event, called Barefoot Bowls, to get young people along.
But she vowed it would not change anything, including the condition of the building, until its lease was extended.
‘‘I said, ‘I won’t spend a penny until you give us a lease’.’’
The club was not a pub, she said. It was at the steep end of Owen St in a residential area. ‘‘No-one’s going to come walking up here for a drink, and we do not run it like a pub.’’
As for noise complaints, it respected its neighbours, she said.
‘‘As the night goes on, the band gets louder, and the people get louder ... then we pull the plug on them.’’ Hepburn said hirage was free for fundraisers, and the club charged only for bar staff or the barbecue.
The decision to offer the premises for hire started with a birthday party for a 1-year-old, she said.
‘‘By the next few years, we’d done every 5-year-old in Newtown’s birthday.’’
There are 13 bowling clubs in Wellington, and the council has leases with five of them.
Council sports and clubs partnership leader Glenn McGovern said six bowling clubs had closed in the past five years.
Of those, three were on land leased from the council, and one, at Vogelmorn, was partially on council land.
The council did not renew leases for two of the six clubs, and the other four closed because of lack of membership and financial reasons, he said.
‘‘As the night goes on, the band gets louder, and the people get louder . . . then we pull the plug on them.’’
Club secretary Ellen Hepburn