NEXT month will see the end of an era with the closure of a club which has been part of ‘Knutsford’s fabric’ for more than a century.

Brook Street Club is a live music and comedy venue, as well as being home to a social snooker club and offering martial arts classes.

However it has been running at a loss over recent years, and members voted reluctantly in October that it should close.

The club will shut at the end of March, when its snooker teams will play their last games of the season and host a small, informal gathering of members on Friday, March 29 to mark the closure.

The club told the Guardian: “Good quality community assets are a dwindling feature of many of our towns and cities, and Knutsford is no different.

“Closure of many of the town’s pubs or their conversion to restaurants, along with the reduction of social clubs, means vital community clubs with good quality premises are assets that are rare and vulnerable.

“Brook Street Club is such an asset, and we’ve been working with a range of partners to attempt to protect the future of the club.

“It’s a members-based non-commercial club run on a volunteer basis that’s been part of the fabric of Knutsford for over a century.

“The Knutsford social scene is vibrant enough to support a good mix of commercial hospitality venues and the town’s member clubs, so there is space for good mix of commercial and community local venues.

“However members’ clubs such as Brook Street are faced with the challenges of changing social habits, and many have dwindling and ageing memberships with no natural source of new, younger members.

“Brook Street Club was previously a very successful members club with a hard-working group of officers and committee members supported by a large group of members.

“In recent years though, the club has been trading at a loss and has only been able to operate by drawing on the club’s reserve funds.

“The club is now in a position where the reserves cannot support the club for more than the next year, and at a special general meeting in October the members voted overwhelmingly for the club to cease operations and close.

“The decision was taken with reluctance but based on a recognition of the reality of the situation we face.

“It’s the end of an era and we’re sad to see it close, but the club is simply no longer financially viable.”

The club said the two snooker teams were transferring to Tatton Club and the martial arts club which used the function room on a regular basis was seeking a new home.

It added that it was confident that its partners who provided comedy and music events including LOL Cheshire and the Knutsford Music Festival would secure alternative venues.