Bilton Club has been trading for 113 years and has come a long way since its humble beginnings as a working men’s club in Cecil Street. It has over 1,000 active members and is widely regarded as one of the best community social clubs in the area.
Despite the finances of the Club being in an extraordinarily strong position, we must look to the future and understand what the next phase of the Club’s development looks like. The Trustees and Committee are determined to ensure every visit to the Club is memorable for all the right reasons and that it is a safe and inclusive community venue that appeals to everyone – members and guests alike.
Phil Smith, the Club’s manager, and the current committee have worked closely together to take the Club forward over the last three years – the healthy Club accounts and membership list confirm this. However, Phil and the Committee acknowledge that they have no specific hospitality skills, knowledge or experience to move us to the next level of our development. For example, our function room is the Club’s greatest asset and undoubtedly one of the best in town but is currently only used to a fraction of its capacity.
At tonight’s meeting, the Committee approved the recruitment of a General Manager with the clear objective to review every element of the Club’s operation. The sector we operate in is incredibly tough and the sad truth is that many clubs like ours are closing – only those clubs with the capacity to adapt, change and innovate will survive. Whilst we want to utilise our facilities better and improve efficiency and customer service it is essential we retain the current friendly, family atmosphere and that we don’t change anything of the things that makes our Club so special and unique. We want to look at offering food, explore the lucrative wedding sector, hold more community events and classes, run sports teams and offer a wider range of products and services to our members and guests. All of this requires specific experience which we can’t currently access, hence the need for this appointment.
Phil has done a fantastic job for the Club in his 3 years as manager and will continue in his current role and work alongside the new General Manager.
We hope Club members and staff will support the Committee in this move to secure the future of our great venue.
