Pelsall social club members left furious over wait for new site

Pelsall Labour Club, in Church Road, was demolished ahead of a development for 24 homes by Dunedin Pelsall Ltd three years ago.

Under an agreement with the firm, a new club venue has been built – but it is still not open.

In a statement, the firm accepts that the opening of the building has taken longer than expected but blamed ‘many issues’ with development at the site.

Steve Lowbridge, aged 58, who has been a member of the club for 40 years, said: “The club sold the car park to the developers three years ago.

“They said they would build the club first – they didn’t do that. They initially built all 24 houses first and left the club to last.

“All the homes have been sold and people have lived in them for 12 months but the builders haven’t touched the club since October last year.

Frustration

“We’ve been waiting too long now. They’ve given us dates for opening but failed to meet them every time.”

Roy Stackhouse, 72, said: “I’ve been a member for 54 years and have always used this club. I used to bring my kids down when they were little.

“The club got into a bit of difficulty so decided to sell, the developer said he would build a new club first.

“People that used to be here have already moved to other clubs. The darts and snooker teams have gone somewhere else. It’s going to be hard to get people back in.

“Hopefully we can get something moving now.”

In a statement, Dunedin Pelsall Ltd said: “Once highways have given us permission to work at the front of the building, we will be opening the club.

“I understand their frustration. Our frustration is the same. There are no difficulties other than finishing the highways work off.

“The whole development has taken longer than we would have liked.”

It continued: “We never give fixed dates. We have been pressured to give approximate dates which we have not hit to this point.

“We have predicted dates and failed to meet them because of many issues with Severn Trent and highways.”