Neighbours’ fury at bowling club’s £1m sell-off to property developer

FOR more than eight decades, it has been a quiet haven for men in blazers and ladies in cardigans to enjoy the sedate sport of bowls.

But now the elderly members of one club are set to swap their pristine green for cold hard cash after agreeing to sell it to a housing developer.

The decision to accept a £1million offer from Mactaggart & Mickel has infuriated neighbours of Whitecraigs Bowling Club, in East Renfrewshire, who accused its committee of ‘money-grabbing’.

The area has some of the most expensive real estate north of the Border, with the average house price of £245,000 sitting £100,000 above that of neighbouring Glasgow. The Broom Estate bowling club opened in 1935, just as Mactaggart & Mickel was developing the area.

Its clubhouse is not listed, but any future plans will have to win the approval of Historic Environment Scotland.

The bowling club’s defiant president yesterday insisted its dwindling number of members – three-quarters of whom are over the age of 75 – had every right to take the money, saying that it was nobody’s business if they made a profit.

John Adam added yesterday: ‘The club has had to come to a halt because there are not enough people to sustain it. We had to effectively liquidate the asset.’

He said payouts would be calculated on a sliding scale, depending on length and ‘grade’ of membership, and suggested the maximum anyone could expect was ‘creeping’ towards £10,000.

Jack Irvine, a PR professional who lives next to the club, condemned the decision. Mr Irvine, 62, said: ‘It saddens the Broom community group that the club’s members were misled by their moneygrabbing committee who cynically closed the membership list some years ago and then stated that membership was dwindling.

‘In contrast, Bowls Scotland report that the sport is thriving.’

A Mactaggart & Mickel spokesman said: ‘We are still reviewing several options to hopefully redevelop the site.’