Following strong advocacy by the Bangalow Advisory Committee (BAC) members to Norths Collective, Norths have delayed seeking external expressions of interest (EOI) to acquire the club. That process, due to start on 5 December, would have placed the community in competition with other clubs to take ownership of the Bangalow Bowlo.
‘The Save Bangalow Bowlo Team (SBBT) are delighted with the news that North Sydney Leagues Club Limited (NSLC) aka Norths have worked with our Bangalow Advisory Committee (BAC) members to secure an exclusive extension until 14 July, 2026 on providing business plans and financials necessary to reopen the club,’ Cr Aren Pugh from SBBT told The Echo.
Over $100,000 raised
The community has strongly supported reclaiming the Bangalow Bowlo with over $116,000 pledged at the time The Echo went to print.
‘There’s lots of work to be done. There’s building work that needs to be done. The club has been kind of emptied out. I suppose they’d done a big stock order just before the closure. So all the food and drinks were collected by Norths to take to another venue. I think all the glassware is gone. So there’s a lot of things that need replenishing in order for the club to begin operating again in some form, assuming we get the keys back,’ explained SBBT campaign organiser, Sally Schofield, recently on Bay FM.
‘So in addition to the GoFundMe donations that have been made, there’s been a number of private pledges that have come through as letters offering quite significant amounts of money, should the club return to the community’s hands. So that’s really positive as well.’
SBBT say they are in the process of consulting with the community on the future of the Bangalow Bowlo and developing business plans and finances that are being consolidated, ready for the community to present to Norths.
‘The current groundswell of community support confirms the wishes of the people of our area to have the club returned to us and reopened as soon as possible,’ said Cr Pugh.
Can you donate?
People are asked to continue to donate to SBBT’s GoFundMe page at www.gofundme.com/f/bangalow-community-reopen-bangalow-bowlo in order to restock and refurnish the club, which is all but empty.
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