Fairmount Bowls Club faces closure
FAIRMOUNT – The club relies on income from the bar, which is also the source of the problem.
The Fairmount Bowling Club is facing closure with residents complaining about the noise coming from a restaurant within the facility.
Residents have started signing a petition which will be submitted to the Johannesburg Property Company, a City of Joburg entity which manages the facility.
According to Ward 72 councillor Steve Kruger, the history of the problem at Fairmount Bowling Club goes back many years. He said the property is owned by the property company and has been leased to the Fairmount Bowling Club.
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Unfortunately, the bowling club does not have sufficient members to cover the costs to maintain the facility, he said. “They, therefore, rely on the income from the bar to help cover the running costs.
“In order to maximise income from the bar there are regular functions at night, especially on Thursday nights when they have karaoke evenings.”
Kruger said the facility is also sometimes leased out for other functions which is in contravention of their liquor licence. Their liquor licence is for a restaurant and the councillor said this type of licence does not permit live music or entertainment.
He said, “This is the source of the noise problem.”
North Eastern Tribune has been told that a number of years ago there was a similar problem and when the property company started the process to terminate the lease, the problem stopped and so the lease was left in place.
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“Unfortunately the problem started again in 2016, and despite a number of phone calls to the person who was meant to be in charge of the bowling club, the problem has continued.
“There have also been numerous emails sent to the relevant officials at JPC, and although they have finally agreed to warn the leaseholders, neighbouring residents feel that the only permanent solution is to terminate the lease, and this can only be achieved by filing a petition to the City of Johannesburg,” said Kruger.
Any resident who is unhappy with the ongoing noise problem is entitled to sign the petition. A petition is valid, no matter the number of signatures, however, the more people who sign, the more weight it will carry, said Kruger.
There is a petitions office based at the Metro Centre in Braamfontein, and residents can either take the petition there themselves or give it to their councillor to hand in on their behalf.
Details: razelle@telkomsa.net
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