Plea as fight to save Brodick Bowling Club gathers pace
Urgent pleas are being made to save Brodick Bowling Club.
Unless a deal can be thrashed out with North Ayrshire Council (NAC) it could be the end for the once-thriving 111-year-old club. The once pristine green lies parched and bare, the clubhouse rundown and in disrepair.
Club officials say they have been repeatedly ignored in their attempts to secure a lease for the green from their previous landlord KA Leisure and, more recently, NAC which has seen them lose an entire bowling season.
Now Arran Community Council is stepping in to help their fight and Arran councillor Timothy Billings is also to step up the pressure on the council to act.
Club secretary Jim Nichols told community councillors, meeting in Ormidale Pavilion this week: ‘By their lack of action, NAC has effectively closed the club down. The club normally shuts for the winter, and with no communications from NAC, despite all the positive verbal messages earlier in the spring/summer, we must now also question what NAC intends for 2023, as given its track record, it is hard to see how a facility can exist in Brodick in future.
‘As an important facility for the Brodick community and wider island, we ask if the community council can support actions to have the situation clarified and an agreed process/lease confirmed to ensure the future for the facility before the end of September.’
Mr Nichols said the oncethriving club which was, prior to Covid, also popular with visitors, had now lost most of its members to other clubs on the island in Lamlash, Whiting Bay and Shiskine.
After discussion it was agreed the community council would send a strongly worded letter to the council in support of the club.
Chairman Bill Calderwood said: ‘We agreed to send a letter supporting a speedy dialogue and resolution to ensure the facility is retained on a multi-year lease.’
The once proud Brodick Bowling Club was formed at its current location in 1911.
It appears the previous authorities leased the site from Arran Estates for many years, then NAC leased the site to arms-length KA Leisure when it formed circa 2000 for 20 years.
Permission was given to the club to run the facility by KA Leisure in return for an annual payment - £100 in 2019.
The club has always understood the KA Leisure arrangement included the maintenance of the buildings and the rinks including ground maintenance and utilities as per the former NAC arrangement. Mains electricity and water supply have been included in the arrangements with KA Leisure and previously NAC. KA Leisure was responsible for maintenance and repair of the clubhouse and utility bills. The club was responsible for public liability insurance.
Until Covid, the club also had the adjacent tennis courts as part of the arrangement. These are also overgrown and in a dilapidated state and have not re-opened since 2019.
The club has had no responsibilities for these since Covid and was advised they would be excluded from future arrangements with NAC.
In 2021, after missing 2020 due to Covid, the club was given verbal permission to re-opened on the basis of members only, as restrictions were still in place.
The council’s Streetscene team continued to maintain the facility and in October 2021, the club closed as normal for the winter.
In March 2022, the club tried to make arrangements for its re-opening late April. It then became apparent there were issues between NAC and KA Leisure over internal arrangements.
By late May, the club was still closed and lost members to other clubs and were closed to the public so was unable to generate income.
Apparently NAC had been given no notice by KA Leisure that it would not be responsible for a number of facilities in North Ayrshire and the bowling green was part of this abdication of responsibility.
Despite further communication with the council, there have been no developments since.
An NAC spokesman said: ‘We are keen to find a lasting resolution to the future of Brodick Bowling Club and are currently in discussions with the committee regarding a short-term lease and longerterm options.
‘The council’s Streetscene team has agreed to maintain the bowling green for this season until longer-term plans are agreed.
‘KA Leisure is not obligated to lease council-owned leisure facilities and made the business decision not to continue the lease of the bowling green and tennis courts in March 2020 and since then we have carried out general maintenance to keep the facilities open and in use.’
The tennis courts are currently padlocked and the bowling green is not open to the general public.