THE committee that runs Dorchester’s Conservative Club is stressing that it is open for business despite the fact the premises are on the market.

The club in South Walks was put up for sale last year after running up debts of £142,000.

A new committee was appointed to take over the running of the club and they are dismayed that people are staying away as they believe it is closed.

Chairman Les Cuff said they are still running a full programme of events and functions and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

He said: “The message going about at the moment is that the club is closed and consequently several functions and skittles teams have pulled out.

“The thing we want to get across is that we are still open for everything – skittles, functions of any description, weddings, wakes and parties.

“We are open for all that and we can cater for it all.

“We also do lunches every day including Sunday.”

Upcoming events include Country and Western nights on May 28 and June 25.

Secretary Colin Lucas said that skittles and billiards will run at least until the end of next season, which will be in April next year.

Mr Cuff said even if a deal to sell the club is agreed in the near future there will still be a period of several months for the Conservatives to secure new premises and move out of the current building.

He stressed that people who use the club would be informed if a move is imminent and until then it will continue to operate as normal.

Mr Lucas said he felt some of the club’s 350 members were being put off by the ‘for sale’ sign outside.

He said: “The sign outside gives the impression that the place is shut but it is business as usual.

“What we want is for those 350 members to use the club.”

Mr Cuff added: “We want to scotch the rumours and get people back in because without their support you are going to hit rock bottom. We are doing well and the club has picked up quite a bit since we first took over but these rumours are not helping.”

Mr Cuff said the new committee was making significant inroads into the debts run up by their predecessors, including halving its trading loss.

The Association of Conservative Clubs was appointed trustees of the club when the debts emerged and are overseeing the sale of the premises.

Mr Lucas said there had been four or five enquiries from interested parties.

Mr Cuff said the committee was on the lookout for new premises but wanted to secure the funds from the sale of the existing property before they put the wheels in motion to acquire a new home.