Company/ commercial
Club members’ payout after twenty-year fight
By
Mar 25, 2008, 11:03

After a twenty-year battle, members of a Gloucestershire working men’s club are finally getting a fair share from the sale of their land.  

The 57 members of the former Brockworth House Club and Institute are to collect their share of the sale proceeds today.  

The club, based in Mill Lane Brockworth, got into financial difficulties in the 1980s and borrowed money from the brewery that supplied their drinks.

The club then struggled to repay the loan. The brewery clawed back some money by selling off the clubhouse for development, but with soaring interest rates in the 1990s and fees to be paid for professional advice, the debt continued to grow.

Members pinned their hopes on the 7.8 acres of greenbelt land owned by the club. They turned down a low initial offer and carried on their fight to hold onto the land in the hope that it would one day get planning permission.

Their perseverance paid off. Planning consent was finally obtained for 111 homes to be built on the site and the land was sold to a developer last year (2007).

Cheques are to be distributed by the club’s lawyers, Willans solicitors, to every one of the 57 members at the meeting in March. Willans’ partner, Margaret Austen, who has acted for the club since 2002, said: “Handing out all these cheques is one of the nicest job I’ve ever had to do.”

Chairman of the club’s committee, Adrian Danks, said: “This is the happy ending we hardly dared hope for. We are particularly grateful for the remarkable outcome Margaret Austen has achieved for us.

“It has been a long legal wrangle of almost Dickensian proportions. As well as dragging on for twenty years, we were up against complicated organisational structures. Both the club and the brewery were run as Industrial and Provident Societies that have completely different rules from ordinary companies.

“As the case got more and more complex, we realised we had to bring in the big guns to prevent the brewery from foreclosing and taking the land. Margaret Austen was recommended as one of the foremost commercial lawyers in this field and we are grateful she agreed to take on the fight.”

Commenting on the current position, Margaret Austen said: “Because the Club was an Industrial and Provident Society, the rules (Industrial and Provident Societies Act 1965) would have prevented such a payment as this being made to the members.

“In order to make a return to the members, we have re-registered the society as a Company Limited by Share.  We have also organised a scheme for different classes of shares, to ensure that members receive the money in the most tax-efficient form possible. (The club paid a substantial amount in tax on the capital gain).”

Following recent claims made by a former member of the club, Margaret Austen said:  “One former member is now claiming that he should have been included in the membership list.  His claim to membership was considered in 1995. He ceased to be a member in 1991 as he had not paid the relevant subscriptions.  He was invited in 1995 to produce evidence that he had paid his subscription but nothing further was heard from him.”

Partner Margaret Austen is a specialist in company/commercial law with a background in two City law firms. She has particular expertise in company law, commercial contracts, partnership law and charity law, and is a member of the Charity Law Association.
margaret.austen@willans.co.uk