A HAMPSHIRE social club is seeing its hopes of staying open fading fast after it was placed into the next stage of closure this week.

Waterside Sports and Social Club (WSSC) has now entered insolvent liquidation, meaning that its main hope is to be bought out by a third party or the facility will be left empty.

The club, in Hardley, had closed in early December with a reported £160,000 worth of debt, with the board in place deciding that liquidation would draw a line under the club’s affairs.

Duncan Swift, pictured, of Southampton chartered accountancy firm Moore Stephens said: “Liquidation is a finely defined path. The club will close unless a third party comes in to purchase the facilities, whether owners Esso start over or it’s someone else, which is entirely possible.

“The popularity of those who want to save the club may well be of interest in a third party going forward.”

Accountancy firm Moore Stephens announced the liquidation after meeting over the past three weeks with the current board at the club with the process expected to take at least three weeks with a liquidator still to be appointed.

Having been placed into insolvency, it now means that the 36 members of staff can claim their owed wages from the government’s redundancy payments fund.

Some of the staff members are owed three weeks wages.

A bid had been launched to save the facility, with more than 50 residents meeting to discuss plans of how to keep it open last month. 

The club is still owned by petrol and diesel service Esso after it was set up by the company in 1951 for staff at the Fawley refinery, but was transferred to community management in 2002.

A statement from Esso said: “We are sorry to learn that the Waterside Sports and Social Club has been forced to close due to financial difficulties. 

“Esso is the owner of the facilities, which it has provided to WSSC for the good of the community at nominal rents of just £1 a year per site since 2002. We are investigating whether a viable alternative to the WSSC can be found.”