A DEAL is close to being struck for the sale of a £1m former Royal British Legion club after the society running it fell into 'hundreds of thousands of pounds’ of debt.

The Observer can reveal liquidators of the Lady Haig Club are close to agreeing a deal with a potential suitor for the site in Stoke Road, Slough.

It has been on the market for offers over £1m after the Lady Haig Royal British Legion (Slough) Club Limited, an industrial and provident society which owned the club, was put into compulsory liquidation in May.

Liquidator Peter Levy said the company owed money to the taxman, electricity board and creditors in the 'low end of hundreds of thousands of pounds’. We are in the process of selling the property and are on the edge of exchanging contracts,” he told The Observer.

“The problem was there was no money coming in. It is in a dilapidated condition. Quite a lot of work has been done to keep it safe – we’ve had to board it up.” The club has been closed for months and residents in the above flats, two of which are bedsits, were served eviction notices. All are believed to have since left. Land Registry documents seen by The Observer state 'restrictive covenants on the land are capable of being enforced’.

They do not state what the covenants are, but they were made when Richard Winyard handed over the land to the society in 1929. But Mr Levy said the party in talks to buy the site was 'not disturbed by that’.

Mr Levy said there were two schools of thought for development. Refurbish the building or knock it down and rebuild. He said the large car park on the site could not be built on because of a gas main.

A Facebook group called Save the Lady Haig Club was set up in June, and called for past and present members to get in touch. However, it only gained 31 likes and a handful of comments, and has not been updated since the month it formed.

Trudy Sheridan, posting on The Observer’s Facebook page, said: “It is a pity [that the club is being sold] with all the history.” A former barmaid, who did not want to be named, added: “It’s very sad to see it go, all the regulars loved the bingo on a Sunday evening.” In October last year, the company which owned the club was given 56 days to raise funds to pay a tax debt and avoid being wound up at the High Court. Lawyers for the club at the time said it was in the process of selling its property and getting the money together to settle the debt. It was not revealed how much was owed.

But a winding up order was made on May 12, and it was put into compulsory liquidation.

Mr Levy was appointed liquidator of the company on May 23, and the company was deregistered as an industrial and provident society in June.