Working men's club to become rehab centre
A former working men's club in Cannock town centre is being turned into an alcohol and drugs rehabilitation centre, under new plans revealed today.
The old Progressive Working Men's Club at Cannock Shopping Centre would be converted if plans are given the go ahead by the district council.
The club, which is opposite the Cannock Campus of South Staffordshire College, has been closed for around four years.
The charity Addiction Dependency Solutions Staffordshire is behind the proposals.
Bosses say they will spend a 'significant' amount of money on the building and say the move is part of a transformation of alcohol and drug services in the area.
Chris Judge, service delivery director for the charity, said that when it won a contact to run substance misuse services throughout Staffordshire it had outlined how staff planned to 'transform' services making them ' much more recovery focussed and responsive to the needs of local communities throughout Staffordshire.'.
He added: "Part of that vision involves delivering services in a variety of locations throughout the county and making our services accessible.
"Treatment services have been delivered in Cannock for a number of years.We are hoping to secure the old Progressive Working Men's Club which has been unused for a number of years.
"One Recovery Staffordshire will be investing a significant amount of money to turn the premises into a modern and inspiring building, in doing this we are able to reduce the impact of substance misuse on the service user, their families and the communities of Cannock."
See also: Wolverhampton working men's club is 'oldest left in UK'.
Cannock East Councillor Muriel Davis said she had no objections to the location.
She said: "I don't think the location makes any difference. There is a similar facility in Park Road in Cannock. We need as much help with people with drug addictions as we can get."
Cannock South Councillor Maureen Freeman added: "The club has been closed for quite some time now. I don't know what it looks like inside but from the outside it looks alright really."
