A pioneering club has been allowed to move back to its home.
Members of Milnsbridge’s left-leaning Red and Green Club have heralded a new “bigger and brighter” future after securing a licence from Kirklees Council.
Now back at its old Milnsbridge Socialist Club base after a brief period at a temporary venue, they hope to put the club back at the heart of the community.
Club member Hayley Reid said: “We’re very pleased to have been granted the licence and it signals a bigger and brighter future for us.
“We were based in the club until a few months ago, when we found out that the premise licence which was held by the Old Milnsbridge Socialist Club had expired, which caused us to temporarily move to Marsden Liberal Club.
“Now we’re back we have so many ideas to make our club one for the community.
“We can operate in the building seven days a week from 11am to 12.30am and have an alcohol licence until 11.30pm.
“These permits mean we can increase the amount of events we put on and the licence terms mean we are no longer a members only club, so we hope that will encourage more people to come down and get involved with what we do.
“So far we’ve got a beer festival planned for the summer and will be open until 1am on the day of the election, so that people can hear the first results start to come in.
“We are also planning to start a monthly music night, which will add to our monthly film, poetry and political discussion events. It’s an exciting time for us and we hope it will revive our club.”
Members of the Red and Green Club hope that the new licence will strengthen their position to buy the building.
No progress on the purchase can be made until the group which used to run the club, the Old Milnsbridge Socialist Club, is officially established as its owners, which will allow them to decide whether to keep it or sell it to pay off the large debts the club accrued during its operational years.
New Milnsbridge Socialist Club secretary and Kirklees councillor Jean Calvert is still in the process of contacting all trustees to get them ratified as the building’s owners, several months after she took on the role.
