ALBURY’S licensed club landscape was forever altered on a Sunday night in early August.
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The Panthers Group’s Sydney bosses decided enough was enough for the Lavington club they provided a lifeline to in 2001.
Doors were shut about 9pm and never re-opened with 40 jobs immediately lost.
Accumulated debts of $8 million was ultimately the trigger for the Panthers Group to close the club, which at its peak in the 1970s and 1980s was the action attraction for the city’s partygoers.
Three weeks later the nearby North Albury Sports Club faced the fight of its life to prevent a similar fate.
After years of struggling to keep the doors open, the club was placed in voluntary administration with debts of $900,000.
Members faced the grim reality of finding $250,000 in a matter of weeks to fight off closure.
The response was lukewarm, but administrator Chris Chamberlain crunched a lifeline based on talks with key players — National Australia Bank, the Australian Taxation Office and Albury Council.
A month later, Mr Chamberlain had the suppport he needed for a longer term rescue plan and the club dodged a bullet.
Another club that had experienced well-documented financial troubles in recent times, the SS&A Club, continued to fight back with the second successive profit after a sustained run of losses.
Club Mulwala was in the headlines with the dramatic departures of long-serving chief executive officer Michael Mullarvey and his assistant of three decades, Graeme Edis.
The club announced a loss of $1.18 million, but there was more fallout with three board members dumped at the annual meeting.
After a decade as Commercial Club president Barry Edmunds handed over the reins to Graeme Edgar.
Road tragedies too close to home