Hoon Hay Club sale being negotiated | Canterbury News | Local News in Canterbury

A major city workingmen's club may soon be sold to pay off mounting debt.

The Christchurch Star believes the Hoon Hay Club, which has a Christchurch City Council rating value of $5.7 million, is on the verge of being sold for just under $2 million after being on the market for over a year.

Club acting general manager John Graham was reluctant to discuss the sale but said it should be confirmed next week.

He said the sale covered the whole site and the club would probably lease back part of the site so it could still operate.

He would not say how much the club was being sold for or whether it would cover the club's $2 million debts. But the Star believes the club is being sold for just under $2 million.

There is also talk in the community that it is being sold to a developer who plans to build a retirement village on the site.

Gordon Freeman, owner of the restaurant on the site, said he had heard the club had received an offer but that was all he knew. Freeman said the sale would not affect the restaurant because he was tied into a lease agreement.

Freeman owned the restaurant building but not the land it was on.

Earlier this year the Star revealed the club was on the market because of changing drinking patterns and the growing cost involved in maintaining the 2ha property in Tankerville Rd.

The then club president Amosa Fa'afoi told the Star young people had different ways of socialising and were more likely to go to bars late at night in the city rather than the local working men's clubs.

He said membership had declined and the frequency with which members came to the club had dropped sharply.