From the Dover Express, 20 December 2007. Report by Yamurai Zendera.

End of landmark club as popularity wanes.

A SOCIAL club which has been going for more than 30 years will close shortly after Christmas because it is not used enough.

Bosses of the Dover Three Links Club in Pencester Road have confirmed it will not reopen next year as it is not making enough money to cover the bills.

The private club has 467 members with an average age of 70 and is a noticeable town centre landmark with its distinctive red front door and name written in gold paint.

The management committee sent letters to members last year warning them to use it or lose it.

Committee chairman Pauline Philpott said: "We have got bills coming in every month and we are not taking enough money at the bar. Most people come for coffee and tea which is not enough.

"We have tried all sorts of things to get people to use it. We offered the room as a free function venue and put adverts in the local papers but nothing has changed.

"We have been using our reserves for quite a while now and we have not taken this decision lightly."

In its heyday the club had more than 1,400 members. When asked why fewer people were now using it, Mrs Philpott said: "Maybe it's because the older members don't like to go out in the evenings or the cost of taxis is too expensive."

The building is owned by The Independent Order of Odd Fellows which has confirmed it is looking for new tenants.

From the Dover Express 20 December 2007.

Missing the Links already

WITH the Dover Three Links Club set to close at the end of the year due to a lack of use, reporter YAMURAI ZENDERA asked some of its members how they feel about losing their club.

Father-of-three DAVID BIRMINGHAM, 58, has been going to the Dover Three Links Club from the moment it opened in April 1974. The civil servant said "I think it's very sad, but there's nothing we can do about it. "This is a very civilised and relaxed place to come and spend time, but now I will have to find somewhere else."

Physically disabled NIGEL CRIDLAND, 50, from River has been coming for 32 years. The father-of-three said: "I'm disgusted with it. I blame the management community. They have had no interest with youngsters coming here. "There's nothing here for them to do, but this has always been a family club. "We have only just got a pool table but it can't be used on Saturday evenings."

Mum-of-three PAULINE HALL, 63, of Friars Way has been going to the club for about 30 years. She said: "In the beginning I used to come every single day, now I only come once a week because there's nobody to talk to. "It will be sad to see it close."

Retired catering assistant JOSEPH COWAN, 76, who lives in Market Square said: "It's not very good that it will close but it is because most of the members don't use it.

You get some coming when there is something going for nothing."

Former cleaning contractor STELLA HARBOUR, of the Gateway Flats has been going to the club for about 18 months.

The mum-of-four said: "I'm disappointed. We come here to meet up with friends. Without this place we will have to find somewhere else to go.

Sales assistant KIM BRADFORD, 60, from Lydden will be disappointed to see it close. The father-of-three visits the club two to three times a week. He said: "I'm not on the committee so it's hard to know what has really gone wrong. We heard rumours it was going to happen, but it's a shame it has come to this."

THE Three Links Club in Dover shut at the end of last year but it was once a thriving town centre venue with a huge membership.

In its heyday the Black and White Three Links Club in Pencester Road, which opened in 1968, had more than 1,400 members but numbers dwindled until the inevitable closure.

News of the club’s demise stirred memories for one Dovorian in particular. Vera Hogben was the licensee, along with her husband Mick, when the club opened and she spoke to the Express about her seven-year tenure behind the bar.

The 86-year-old mum-of-three said: “Mick and I were the steward and stewardess and before we came to the club we had our own pub in Canterbury, the "Brewer’s Delight" in Broad Street.

“When it opened it was the Dover Football Club supporters club and we used to do the lunch for teams who were down to play in Dover.

“There was a great atmosphere - it was the place for ferry workers to come and drink. We worked very hard. It was one of the biggest places in Dover but we didn’t mind because we were happy.”

The club was officially opened by James Overed from, the Arsenal Supporters’ Association and Ronald Perry who represented the building’s landlords, the Order of Oddfellows.

Vera and Mick have not always worked in pubs and clubs. Vera said: “When Mick came out of the RAF we had a hairdressers business in Southall for 19 years.

“Then we moved to Canterbury to the pub and were there for four years. We also ran the Centre Spot club at Crabble on and off through the years. After we left the Black and White Club we set up the Sea Angling Club in Dover.

Sadly, Mick passed away in 2002 but Vera has decided to stay on in her birth town of Dover. Looking back at her time at the Pencester Road club Vera has nothing but happy memories of the years’ she spent there with Mick and is sad to see it shut down.

Cheers: This photo from 1968 shows (from left) Arsenal Supporters’ Association chairman James Overed, Oddfellows director Ronald Perry, Vera and Mick’s son Paul Hogben and Vera Hogben.

She said: “I was surprised when I heard the club was closing. It had a big membership to start with.

“In a way I will be sad when it is gone, but I have not used it for years.

“It was a fabulous club in its day.”