WOODLANDS Social Club may have closed its doors for the final time because of crippling debts.

The social club, formed from the old Harris Bacon Factory Social and Welfare Club, owes £150,000, around £80,000 of which is owed to the Inland Revenue.

The club is now facing voluntarily or compulsory insolvency with a member’s vote at a formal meeting expected in the next month.

The social club committee and Steve Elliot, from chartered accountancy firm Monahans, met with members last Tuesday to explain the situation and look at possible solutions.

Woodlands Social Club chairman, Tracy Daniels, said: “Time had simply run out due to a technicality in the club’s constitution, it’s such a shame.

“The club has engaged business recovery expert Steve Elliot of Monahans to assist in the process, and need a short period of breathing space whilst it is shut to take stock of the situation and hopefully rectify the funding issue.”

”I certainly don’t want to be the last chairman of Calne Woodlands Social Club. We've had dire times before but we have always managed to pull something out of the hat, and we aren’t yet ready to accept this is the end.”

The club ran into difficulties two years ago when it applied for a loan to pay off some debts only to discover that the company had been dissolved in 2009.

This meant that the club no longer owned the building, on Woodlands Park, in which the social club is based and had no assets to set the loan against.

A new limited company was registered with Companies House in 2013 with solicitors looking to transfer the club’s assets to the new company without success ever since.

Losses of thousands of pounds over the past two years and a reduction in members from over 1000 to around 500 in just a few years have only seen the club’s financial situation deteriorate.

Mr Elliot said: “HMRC have got to the point where they will not let the club continue. We contacted HMRC asking for breathing space to contact members to explain any way to save the club.

“It’s not a case of finding £150,000 to meet the clubs debts but to stop it losing money going forward. None of the options are easy.”