A WORKING men's club which fought back from the brink of closure looks doomed today after it was sold for redevelopment.

Committee members at Layerthorpe Working Men's Club, in Little Hallfield Road, York, say they are dismayed about the sale by its owners, John Smith's brewery in Tadcaster.

All five workers at the club received redundancy notices today, 18 months after members were congratulated on their success in reviving Layerthorpe WMC, which had gone into receivership in 1999.

At the time they were promised that plans to sell up had been dropped.

A letter, signed by the brewery's recoveries manager, Graham Sykes, said: "I can assure you that the property is no longer for sale.

"We are extremely pleased with the progress being made and I anticipate, once the former steward's accommodation has been let, that we will be able to restructure our finance and effectively hand back to the committee the control of the club."

But committee secretary Ann Barker, who has been a club member since 1972, has learned the sale has now gone through.

She said: "I have been told that we have until September 17 before we have to hand over the keys.

"It's a total shock. The club has definitely improved since we took it over, and we certainly did not expect this."

In 1999, the club owed about £25,000 to several creditors. Its steward was made redundant and a receiver called in.

But since then, Mrs Barker said, the committee had proved the club could be run profitably. It now has about 400 members.

"They should have come in here and had the decency to talk to the members before doing something like this," she said.

"This will have a real effect on this community, but none of us has been consulted."

Mr Sykes today declined to confirm the sale had been agreed.

He said: "I can't give you any information. We won't comment on customer accounts."

But the redundancy notices said: "I regret to inform you that the club has been sold for redevelopment, and as a consequence your post will be declared redundant."

The club is only a couple of hundred metres from the Frog Hall pub, in Layerthorpe. Developers plan to pull it down at the end of the year and replace it with a McDonalds drive-through restaurant and a video store.

The plans have sparked massive opposition, headed by an Evening Press campaign.

Updated: 16:34 Monday, August 13, 2001