Gosford City Bowling Club has died.
After a long illness, and surrounded by seemingly uncaring support services that could have saved her, Gosford Bowling Club has finally succumbed to death by a thousand cuts.
The final cut was delivered in June when Central Coast Council refused to give the bowlers seven days a week access to the facilities, meaning some tournaments could not be held there and limiting commercial opportunities for the club to become self-supporting.
Previously, the Leagues Club had withdrawn its financial support for the club.
The Leagues Club also sold a front portion of the bowling club’s car park, meaning members no longer had vehicular access to the site.
Curiously, since the club’s death, the chain closing off the parking access was not there today.
The club had been in palliative care for more than four years.
Its decline began when Central Coast Council identified the potential of the site for a high rise hotel as part of a master-plan to “re-activate” Gosford waterfront.
As a follow up to that, Council-under-administration in 2021 put the land up for reclassification from “community” to “operational” so it could be sold some time in the future.
But in June 2024, Council, while still under administration, said the bowling club could continue with one last five year lease, to be signed in December of that year.
At last. A sign of hope.
The lease would be between Council and Central Coast Leagues Club, which had been the parent club for the bowlers since the late 1980s.
After that last lease, which would have given the bowlers life until 2030, Council would sell the land for a “higher use”.
But it said the five year lease would not be broken.
However, when it came time to sign the five year lease, the Leagues Club in December 2024 decided it would no longer support the bowling club and it did not sign the lease.
On January 30, three councillors visited the club, hoping to help save it.
Council then offered the club a “six month seasonal booking”.
But that was yet another cut to the bowling club’s health.
The club could only use the site for four days a week – not enough for them to make it profitable.
Council cited a Local Government Act, explaining it didn’t have the power to allow seven days a week access.
The bowlers checked with the State Government’s Office of Local Government.
It said it had no oversight of short term leases.
But council didn’t go down that route, it was only prepared to offer a seasonal booking.
The bowlers had come to the end of the line.
The club was born in September 1939 after a State Government grant in 1937 allowed Gosford Council to construct a bowling green, clubhouse, tennis courts and grandstand at Grahame Park.
The club died on June 26, 2025.
Its members have dispersed, like flowers on a grave on a windy day, to other bowling clubs.
Leave a Reply