Bowls club to shut four years after being saved
Newtown Workingmen’s Bowling Club is set to close at the end of this month, four years after surviving a joint police and Wellington City Council operation to close it.
A community drive is now under way to save it from demolition.
Club members unanimously agreed last month to close the club, which is on Town Belt land on Owen St, on May 31. The council aimed to get the club to demolish the building within six months of May 31, said spokesman Richard MacLean.
The council tried to close the club in 2017 after arguing that it was creating multiple noise complaints and that it was being run as a cheap drinking hole rather than a sports club. By that point, membership was down to 24.
Police were also involved in trying to shut down the club. Documents released under the Official Information Act showed they led an undercover sting on the club before they joined the council in opposing a renewal of the club’s liquor licence.
But news of the closure saw a
massive surge in new members, with membership rates set at just $5, and by 2018 membership was up to 474. MacLean said membership numbers had since declined steadily.
City councillor Fleur Fitzsimons, who helped save the club in 2017 then helped renew its licence in 2019, said news of the closure was sad. She knew it was not a decision taken lightly. ‘‘The council must explore all possible options for retention of this building because I am advised that if it is demolished, nothing new can be built here due to the constraints of the Town Belt legislation.’’