Ballymena United Social Club faces VAT axe

Officials of Ballymena United Sports and Social Club fear it will be ‘last orders’ unless they can urgently raise £39,000 to pay an outstanding bill from Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs.

HMRC have given the Slemish Drive venue until this week to raise the figure or else face closing its doors after having been in business for more than 40 years.

A dwindling membership and rising overheads have hit the BUSSC hard in recent years, leaving the venue facing an uphill struggle simply to keep its head above water, especially in the current financial climate.

Committee members have appealed for assistance from the Ballymena public to help save a venue which has been at the forefront of the local community for close to half a century.

“It’s not something which has come as a bolt from the blue - the management committee were aware of the money owed to HMRC but we hoped that some sort of agreement could be reached,” chairman Sloan Gibson told the Times.

“In the scale of some of the sums HMRC are used to dealing with, it’s not a large amount and with the right planning and decisions we believe we could resolve the issue but we aren’t being given that opportunity.

“Membership numbers have decreased to about 130 from 500 or 600 10 years ago which has hit us hard.

“Turnover on matchdays is also down for various reasons and we have ever-increasing overheads to deal with such as utilities, rates, insurance, price of stock and the increase in VAT to 20 per cent. Even factors such as the smoking ban hit us hard, along with the fact that people can purchase cheap alcohol at the supermarkets and drink at home.

A special AGM is to be held in the club on Saturday, June 4 at 8pm.