Under threat Corby Forest Bowling Club seeking legal advice after offer of temporary lease from brewery landlords

Members of Corby Forest Bowling Club have vowed to fight changes to a year-long lease offered by their brewery landlords Star Pubs and Bars, owners of The Raven.

After a campaign to save the club, and an outcry on social media with hundreds pledging their support, the brewery said they would let the club stay open, rent-free, while they decided what to do with the land.

Following a meeting at their Rockingham Road HQ with MP Tom Pursglove and Cllr Mark Pengelly (Lab, Lloyds), Corby Forest Bowling Club will now seek legal advice on the lease.

A committee of members will then decide whether to sign the document that would give them a year’s reprieve.

John Docherty from Corby Forest Bowling Club’s campaign committee said: “We are contacting our solicitor to get in touch with the brewery.

"We want a 20-year lease. What they have offered us is one year and one year only. We want a meeting with them. Tom Pursglove has sent a letter to the chief executive of the brewery and to the Sports Minister and has written to NNC leader Jason Smithers about it (the club) being important to the local community.”

The 72-year-old club is facing a battle to survive after their landlords gave them just a few weeks to vacate their club so the land could be redeveloped by premises owner Star Pubs – a company run by beer giant Heineken.

Last month, the bowlers won the Northamptonshire County League despite living with the uncertainty.

Cllr Mark Pengelly said: “We had a very productive meeting. We have asked Tom Pursglove to get in touch with the brewery and we have set up a campaign committee.

"We welcome the MP now joining to keep the campaign to keep the club open. It is such a vital part of the community.”

As well as the club being home to more than 50 members, the club house has been a community hub for bowlers with social events being held alongside sporting fixtures.

Annette Morris has been playing at the club since the 1980s and depends on the social aspect of the club as well as competing.

The 85-year-old said: “It’s our life, I couldn’t imagine life without it. There’s not another sport that I can do at my age.”

MP for Corby Tom Pursglove promised to help the club by working to preserve the sports facility.

He said: “Across the past few weeks, I have been actively supporting Corby Forest Bowls Club in their communications with their landlord and with North Northamptonshire Council, working cross-party, and will continue to do so, with the aim of preserving this important community club for years to come.

"It was fantastic to be able to visit the club last week, to meet many of the members that call it home, and to hear about its rich history and the success that the club has enjoyed over so many years, with its proud local, national and wider reputation.

"We must see its future shored up, so that this vital amenity and community asset, enjoyed by Corby people of all ages, is there for years to come.”