Sadness as Stourbridge Royal British Legion club now closed

A crowdfunder was launched in April to try to save Stourbridge Royal British Legion HQ in Enville Street after the club got into financial difficulties.

More than £2,000 was donated by kind-hearted members of the public in the hope it would help to reverse fortunes at the social club which had served the community for more than 70 years.

However, the club building - which included a bar and function room for veterans to get together plus lots of military memorabilia – closed last month and now stands boarded up.

The Stourbridge Royal British Legion club building in Enville Street which has been boarded up (Image: Bev Holder/Newsquest)

The closure of the building, however, does not spell the end for Stourbridge Royal British Legion Branch which will continue to support veterans and serving members of the armed forces.

Mick Sage, RBL Stourbridge Branch secretary, said: “It was a sad day when the RBL social club in Enville Street closed its doors for the last time on May 6, having been a bastion of the local community for over 70 years. It offered a place where both serving and veterans could meet up over a pint with like-minded friends, and a place where they could keep an eye out for one another.”

He said all money donated to the crowdfunding campaign to try to save the club building would be returned to donors in around a week when the virtual fundraiser hits its closing date.

And he stressed: “With regards to Stourbridge British Legion Branch, we will continue to support both serving and veterans, their families and beneficiaries within the Stourbridge area.”

Stourbridge councillors have spoken of their sadness at the loss of the club.

The Stourbridge Royal British Legion club building when it was open (Image: Google Street View)

Councillor Andrew Tromans, who represents Wollaston and Stourbridge town, said: “Stourbridge Royal British Legion has been a fixture of community life for decades. Many people in the town will have made special memories at the club. It is sad to see this institution, a cornerstone of community life in Stourbridge, go and it will be strange to walk down Enville Street and not see it there."

Fellow ward councillor Cat Eccles, Labour’s Parliamentary candidate for Stourbridge, said: "It's really disappointing that the legion could not be saved. I met with key members of the group to try to find ways to keep the club open, and wrote to the British Legion asking them to reconsider.

“The club provided a safe, welcoming space for veterans and their families, offering support and friendship to all its members.”

She said there have been several offers made to host club members at other venues across Stourbridge and she added: “I hope the club can continue to meet and provide a much-needed outlet for people who may otherwise be facing loneliness. I will continue to offer my full support in any way I can."

Stourbridge’s former MP Suzanne Webb, who is campaigning to serve another term for the Conservatives, said she too met with the committee a few weeks ago to try to find a way forward but she added: “It became clear the situation was serious and the business was not financially viable in its current format.

“It is a very sad situation for our veterans to have lost this meeting place especially as we commemorate the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings this week.”

She said if she’s re-elected she will seek out private investment “so we can look to resurrect the building or find a new location so our veterans who came to this club still have a meeting place”.

Anyone in need of support from the legion can email Stourbridge.Secretary@RBL.Community.

War heroes will be commemorated today on the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings with a memorial and wreath-laying ceremony at the cenotaph in Mary Stevens Park, Norton, Stourbridge, at 11am.