THE manager of a historic Plymouth social club which is to be shut and its premises put up for sale has said it is a sad day for the community-as well as herself and her family.
Louisa Traynor is general manager of The Saltram, a membersonly club on Salisbury Road, in St Jude's, which was first established in 1901.
A committee representing member shareholders, who took over the business in 2010, put out a statement at the weekend saying that the club would be shut from May 29 and put on the market, after what they said was advice from accountants and an insolvency practice.
Mrs Traynor took over the running of the club when more than 50 members clubbed together to buy shares and take over the business so it could remain open for the community. The club runs three darts teams, a pool team, sponsors a football team as well as holding charity fundraising events for various good causes.
Together with husband, Graham, and children Lacy-Dee and Connor, the establishment's premises is also home for Louisa, who was invited to open the club for a weekend when it was taken over in 2010 and never left. She said: "Someone who was on the board of directors at the time knew me and approached me and said 'are you doing anything' and asked me if I wanted to open up the club for a weekend just to see if people would come back before they committed.
"That was in March [2010] and I've not left since - me and Graham and the kids haven't left since." She added: "My kids were two and three when we came here and they have grown up here. This is their life.
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