Drink-drive laws put brakes on club fortunes
It looks like tough drink-driving laws could be forcing social clubs to call time on drinkers.
RSA national chief executive Jack Steer said in the years following World War II an RSA club could be found in virtually every small town, with 183 of them nationally. Times are changing, however.
‘‘The same as all the clubs in New Zealand, we are encountering the impact of drink-drive rules, and nowadays a lot of people just don’t go out to clubs any more.‘‘
‘‘It’s hard work to run a club in New Zealand. If no one’s turning up you don’t make enough money, and if you don’t change your model, then you’re going to close,’’ he said.
A case in point, The Rangitikei Club, which has been lubricating Feilding drinkers for the past 130 years, closed its doors on Friday after having struggled for years to pay the bills.
The Sunday Star-Times spoke with a number of punters on the club’s final night, most of them reconciled to the fact the closure was simply a sign of the times.
It is a story that has been echoed throughout the country.
Constantly trying new things is important for Jim Hogg, president of the Petone Working Men’s Club, one of the country’s largest chartered clubs, 10,000 members.
The club supports with more the than new stricter drink-driving rules introduced in 2014, but Hogg estimates it knocked their $1 million annual turnover back by about $100,000.
They now operate subsidised shuttle people home, and busy.
‘‘Going back to the old days, tradesmen would bring their apprentices after work and do their paperwork, and that was enough to keep the club going.
‘‘But with the drink-driving rules changed, it’s no longer viable, so now a lot of our men go home... ‘‘ a heavily
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