Well-known Harborough social club is being forced to shut by the Covid-19 crisis after 52 years

“It’s a shame and there’s a real touch of nostalgia about this but there’s just no way we can carry on"
The Catholic Club.
PICTURE: ANDREW CARPENTERThe Catholic Club.
PICTURE: ANDREW CARPENTER
The Catholic Club. PICTURE: ANDREW CARPENTER

A well-known Market Harborough social club is being forced to shut by the Covid-19 crisis after 52 years.

The Catholic Club on Coventry Road opened back on September 28, 1968 – and now it will close for good on Tuesday September 1.

Keith Shiers, 75, the club’s chairman, said: “It’s a shame and there’s a real touch of nostalgia about this but there’s just no way we can carry on.

An old photo of the Market Harborough Catholic Club.An old photo of the Market Harborough Catholic Club.
An old photo of the Market Harborough Catholic Club.

“We closed as soon as the coronavirus lockdown came into force back in March.

“And we have decided after holding a committee meeting that, unfortunately, the time has come to call it a day.”

The RAF veteran, who’s been involved with the Catholic Club all of its half-century history, said the virus pandemic has hammered the final nail in its coffin.

“We need to clear £2,500-a-week to survive and keep our heads above water.

“That’s a lot of custom and a lot of takings,” said Keith, who’s lived in the same house in Fairfax Road, Market Harborough, since 1951.

“We were making just over £2,000 every week before the lockdown was imposed.

“So we were not breaking even as it was.

“It was becoming increasingly tough – and the coronavirus has proved to be the straw that broke the camel’s back.”

The great-grandad said many of their regulars at the ageing Victorian building put up in 1881 are in their 70s and 80s.

“They are just too frightened to come back and have a drink in our bar.

“We have 165 members now,” said Keith, who was an air traffic controller with the RAF for 38 years.

“In our heyday back in the 70s and 80s we boasted a very healthy membership of about 300.

“We have had a fantastic club here over the last five decades – and so many local people have loved coming here.

“At one time we ran four skittles teams as well as dominoes.

“I used to love coming back in here when I was on leave from the RAF because I’d see all my mates at the same time in the same place.

“We’d open every evening apart from Monday as well as on Saturday and Sunday lunchtimes.

“We would run packed bus day trips off to Skegness and elsewhere, they were very popular.

“But times change and it’s getting harder and harder to make it work,” stressed Keith, the club’s chairman for over five years.

The decision to axe the Catholic Club has also come as a big blow to Market Harborough Chess Club, which traces its proud history back to the 1950s.

A spokesman for the town’s successful chess club, which met up at the Catholic Club up to three times a week for 10 years, said: “We would like to place on record our huge thanks to the Catholic Club for their hospitality.

“They gave us a very good deal and we will always appreciate that.”

The thriving chess club is now urgently looking for a new home.

So if you can help them in their quest please contact one of their officers, Rene Butler, at: [email protected]