Rodney Stevens

Patrons, members and guests at Maclean Bowling Club will enjoy a new level of comfort and pleasure following the first significant makeover on the club in almost a decade.

Maclean Bowling Club Manager Mark Williams said the finishing touches were being applied to the $3.2 million in renovations at the club, which he hoped will be finished next month.

Mr Williams said supply issues with materials and the availability of trades to complete the work resulted in the process taking longer than anticipated.

“The renovations started at the end of the last financial year, so they have nearly taken 10 months,” he said.

“Delays with the supply of steel affected us from the word go, then they couldn’t get the steel workers and the delays went on from there.”

Extremely proud of the extensive renovations, which are much more than a fresh lick of paint and new furniture, Mr Williams said there are new features at the club for the young and young at heart.

“The renovations involved extending the club out to our boundary and putting a new loading dock in and fencing it off, moving our back of house offices, moving our poker machine area from one side to the other side to take it away from the bowling greens,” Mr Williams said.

“We have reinvented our bistro area but haven’t changed our caterers, we reinvented our dining room, we put another meeting room in, a kids play area and a new cocktail bar.

“We also replaced the carpet, the furniture and there are still some finishing touches to be applied but we’re very close.”

Mr Williams said the renovations were part of the strategic evolution of the club, by the board.

“We had a board that were progressive and realised that we could just keep spending a couple hundred thousand dollars on the club every three years and not actually get any new members, all it was doing was making the other members comfortable,” he said.

“When we built the motel next door it just changed the whole demographic of who came here, and we’ve just rolled on from there.”

Mr Williams said the club continued to trade during the renovations and the response from members and locals to the makeover has been fantastic.

“We have got great feedback from everybody who has been to the club and seen the renovations, everything has been positive,” he said.

“We just need to spend a little bit more time on how the new bar works and just getting everything finished so it looks sensational.”