Government's gaming bias leaves Clayfield club members forlorn

For 101 years the Clayfield Bowls Club has sat on a hilltop in one of Brisbane's best suburbs, 5985sq m of golden real estate money couldn't buy.
But money can buy it now and probably will.

The Clayfield Bowls Club is officially up for sale and likely to close down, with its membership likely to merge with the nearby Kalinga club.

The State Government's decision to reject the club's application for poker machines has effectively frogmarched it to the gallows.

"It is extremely sad and I feel quite a lot of anger about the whole story," club chairman Harry Shortt said. "My grandfather was a foundation member of the club and now I am fighting to keep it alive."

Part of the charm of Brisbane's second oldest club is that it is nestled away from bustling inner-city traffic in a quiet pocket. But its precious privacy is a killer for revenue, because it doesn't receive passer-by traffic.

Like many other bowls clubs, Clayfield - with 124 members - has found the spiralling costs of running a small licensed club have sentenced it to repeated annual losses, the latest of which was more than $100,000.

Members thought they had secured their future three years ago when they sold the club to Gold Coast firm EHS Properties and were given a 23-year lease on the property at $1 a year.

But the deal was based on the assumption the club would get pokies and the rejection of its application meant the club had an unsustainable future.

The club agreed with EHS Properties the best way forward was for members to be paid out for their lease and merge with the nearby Kalinga club and the land be redeveloped into a nine-block subdivision, likely to net $7.5 million. But EHS Properties went into receivership, and the fate of the club and the development is yet to be resolved.

Members are hoping Brisbane City Council will approve the development and the bowlers be paid to move to Kalinga - but it is an anxious wait.

"The redevelopment appears the only way forward," Mr Shortt said.

"If we move to Kalinga it would fund the future of both clubs and we are very keen to talk to Lord Mayor Campbell Newman to see if he can help us."

Published in the Courier Mail on 14 April.

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/governments-gaming-bias-le...