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Press Information
30th January 2009 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
BIBBY CLUB TO CLOSES ITS DOORS AFTER 40 YEARS
Following months of speculation, it was officially announced today that the Bibby Sports & Social Club in Tilling Drive, Stone, is to close. Originally opened in 1969 to provide canteen, restaurant and sports and social facilities for the employees and families of scientific glassmakers, Quickfit & Quartz Limited, the club will close its doors for the last time on Tuesday 31st March. In its relatively short but highly successful 40 year history, the Bibby Sports & Social Club has gone through four name changes and had five separate owners, among them Corning Limited, J Bibby & Sons Limited and Barloworld Scientific. For a club that once boasted a 100% employee membership, nowadays this figure is less than 10%. Despite this trend, the club has established itself as the centre of social activity for the western community of the town. It has been a popular venue for a wide range of private functions including wedding receptions, birthday parties, anniversary celebrations, dinner dances and discos. It is also home to over ten operating sports and social sections, Stone Rugby Club and Stone Little Theatre who this year celebrates its milestone 30th anniversary. For the past nine months, an interim management committee headed by Acting Chairman, Chris Bell, has worked tirelessly to try and save the club from closure. “After being offered a generous two-year lease from the new owners, Nova Capital Management Limited, we assembled a core team of representatives from all club sections in an endeavour to establish a new direction for the club” commented Mr Bell. Town Mayor, Mark Green, was also part of that team. “We looked closely at every aspect of the club’s current operation, carefully reviewing running costs in conjunction with bar profits, membership fees and private hire charges. We assessed local competition and identified new initiatives for the club to ‘bridge gaps’ in local social amenities. We also diligently established the ongoing requirements of our main club sections alongside a major initiative to re-develop the club and vastly improve its facilities. Sadly, after building all these factors into a comprehensive business plan which we reviewed and updated three times, the figures did not stack up. As a consequence and after talking long and hard to Nova Capital Management, we came to the conclusion that the club could not continue to operate in its present form.” Despite the club’s closure, the allotments will continue to operate independently, providing facilities for an enthusiastic group of local vegetable and fruit growers. The sports field will also continue to provide a home venue for Stone Rugby Club who have their own ‘David Jones Pavilion’ permanently sited on the south side of the field. The closure of the Bibby Sports & Social Club in its 40th anniversary year is not only sad news for club members, it is also a major blow for the community of Stone who will now lose the only local venue capable of hosting 250 people. “We will continue to look for a ‘white knight’ to invest in the club but as time goes on, the chances of us finding one seem less likely, especially in this current climate of severe financial restraint.” added Mr Bell. -ends-
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