The Penn Club to close
Club established in 1920 with funds left over from the Friends Ambulance Unit to close due to Covid impact
The historic Quaker-founded Penn Club is closing just months after celebrations for its centenary birthday were cancelled. In a statement on its website, the Penn Club board wrote that: ‘The Club in its present situation is unsustainable and must cease business from the end of March this year. After deep and careful discernment, the decision to close was made with very heavy hearts. Despite working tirelessly since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic to negotiate a sustainable plan, the Board must now conclude that the business is untenable.’
The Bloomsbury club reported it was in ‘a perilous position’ in September last year when general manager Fergal Crossan told the Friend that bookings were down in July from a usual ninety-one per cent to three per cent.
With the club already living off its reserves, he said that if the downward trajectory continued, it would be forced to close.
‘Our biggest problem is that we don’t own our own building so renting is our biggest outgoing. Our landlords have not been very amenable, but we’re not giving up and we’re still in negotiations,’ he said. ‘We normally run at eighty per cent occupancy, but we had three per cent occupancy in July and we’re forecasting thirteen per cent occupancy for August… Forty per cent of our business comes from overseas visitors, but of course there’s not much international travel at the moment.’
According to a letter sent in the summer to the club’s regular non-members who stay there, ‘the outlook for the next few months is concerning, with pre-bookings not getting above 7 per cent’.
The directors warned of a difficult year ahead in the annual accounts for the year ending March 2020, saying that they acknowledge that the reserves will be severely impacted in the forthcoming year.
It also noted that the club was in negotiation with Bedford Estates for financial assistance and was investigating taking advantage of the government’s various business support initiatives as it worked to build up its reserves.
In the first Covid-19 lockdown, the club housed NHS staff to support local hospitals.
The club, which was established in 1920 with funds left over from the Friends Ambulance Unit, was to celebrate its centenary in 2020, with a garden party and commissioned artwork.
