Doubt hangs over the future of Jarrow Ex-Servicemen's Club in North Street, Jarrow, because of a big drop in takings.

Club secretary Stan Brown has denied the closure rumours, but admitted the club has debts, adding: "Business has never been as bad as this."

A special meeting will be held at the club on Sunday, July 19, at 11am, and all members have been urged to attend.

Mr Brown said: "We can't survive on what we're taking at the moment.

There will be a brewery representative at the meeting and we're going to tell members that they must support the club, which is struggling badly at the moment."

Despite having about 300 paid-up members, Jarrow Ex-Servicemen's has been forced to close its doors three afternoons a week because of falling custom, in line with many other parts of struggling clubland across North East England.

Ironically, one of the few times the club is busy is when it hosts receptions after funerals.

Mr Brown added: "Business is really bad, the worst it's ever been, and I know rumours are going around the town that we're closing.

"The smoking ban hit us really hard and then there's the problem with people buying drink from supermarkets.

"I cannot really say what's going to happen. We will be meeting with the breweries and our accountant soon about the state of the club."

The grim news comes just weeks after the closure of Deneside Catholic Club, on the Hedworth Estate, Jarrow.

Members were taken aback when the club closed its doors after more than 40 years, and the premises put up for sale.

Peter Hamilton, 59, a member of Jarrow Ex-Servicemen's Club for
20 years, said the committee needs to tell the membership what is happening.

He said: "The members need to know if the club is going to close or not."

Mr Hamilton, who lives just yards from the club in Palmer Walk, added: "We have had no annual general meeting for about a year, and the members don't know what's happening.

"There is a good membership base, but we never see most of them. They need to support the club and the committee needs to be more responsive to ideas from the membership on how to improve the club's fortunes."

The North Street club opened in 1962, but operated for years before that in Grange Road, Jarrow.