Colchester Conservative Club set to close

Colchester Conservative Club, which has been in High Street since 1928 and in the town since 1905, will shut for good next week.

The decision was made by the five-member committee after a rapid decline in both membership and bodies through the door over the last three years.

Its final day of trading will be next Saturday.

Club secretary Allan Harvey said: “It was a hard decision to make but it was the same thing every year for the last few years.

Closing - the Colchester Conservative Club

“We only exist for the members and if the members aren’t using us, then we’ve got a problem.”

Membership now sits at about 300 - down from about 1,000 in the not-too-distant past - but Mr Harvey and chairman Tony Simons say members have become less and less likely to venture into the town centre at nighttime. Mr Harvey said: “The town has changed so much.

“Our membership is probably in the middle-to-older age range and a lot of them don’t want to go out to the town centre anymore because perhaps they don’t feel too safe and then there is the parking issue - we don’t have any.”

The pair added the decision to close was not taken lightly.

Mr Harvey added: “It’s been struggling for a few years now and this year it got to the point that we were seriously looking at it.

“Maybe six to nine months ago we started to really watch the pennies and in the end we were left with no other decision really.

Previous guise - the club started out life in St Botolph's House

“Every year at the AGM, it was the same thing: ‘This is your club, you have to use it,’ and ultimately if you can’t pay the bills, you’re in trouble.”

Mr Simons added: “It’s probably a wider issue, that the likes of Conservative clubs and social clubs are struggling.

“High streets are full of fast-food places and nowadays very little to bring people into town centres. That’s happening everywhere, not just Colchester, but this town definitely isn’t the same as it was.”

The closure means six members of staff, including 65-year-old Mr Harvey, will lose their jobs but the club will close owing no money to creditors or staff.

The building is owned by the Association of Conservative Clubs - independent of the Conservative Party. It is not clear what is planned for the future of the three-storey building, parts of which are still used as a flat and, until recently, office space.