Fields of dreams: the Whitgift Sports Club grounds and clubhouse. The company that manages it has gone bust
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Another small business in the hospitality sector appears to have gone under – with a large charity, private school and old boys’ association carefully distancing themselves from the debt-ridden company. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES
Out of pocket: the Whitgift Sports Club, off Croham Manor Road
The Whitgift Sports Club on Croham Manor Road in South Croydon has gone into liquidation, owing creditors hundreds of thousands of pounds.
Locals who paid deposits to stage parties at the venue fear that they have lost the events that they have spent months in planning, while hundreds of thirsty rugby players, cricketers and spectators are unable to use their clubs’ special membership cards to order drinks at the bar.
Whitgift Sports Club Ltd is an independent trading company, but has connections with a nexus of organisations with links to Croydon’s biggest property owners, the Whitgift Foundation, and it is home to sports clubs for the old boys of Whitgift School.
The carefully manicured grounds, at the foot of the Croham Hurst woods and next to the golf club, played host to Old Whitgiftians’ rugby and cricket clubs, as well as hockey teams.
Top table: Whitgift Sports Club’s hospitality business took a hit during covid
Rugby fixtures were still being played at the ground as recently as last weekend, and it is understood that the sports teams, as legally separate entities from Whitgift Sports Club Ltd, hope to continue operating. Their members just might struggle to get a pint in the clubhouse for a while, or see the pitches mown and whitewashed to the usual high standards.
Plagued with financial problems, especially since the covid lockdown in 2020, the Whitgift Sports Club directors opted to stage a meeting of creditors on September 10.
Last week, they appointed liquidation practitioners to wind up the business.
They had operated the grounds and the clubhouse as a private hospitality venue, renting out their facilities for weddings, birthdays and anniversary parties, as well as being used for Whitgift old boys’ dinners and, of course, the sports fixtures.
The phone in the clubhouse is disconnected. The Whitgift Sports Club website is offline.
The Whitgiftian Association – “an organisation for sixth formers and former pupils of Whitgift School” – has its office at Whitgift School. On its website, the Whitgift Association says, “As well as a programme of events for WA members at the school, there are also social and sporting activities (cricket, football, hockey, rugby) at the Whitgift Sports Club in Croham Road.”
Beyond a boundary: groundstaff from Whitgift School carried out works at the sports club – for a fee
No one at the Whitgiftian Association replied to our calls or messages.
The Whitgift Foundation, the £250million property business which also runs Whitgift and two other large fee-paying independent schools in the borough, this week sought to distance itself from the collapse of the Whitgift Sports Club.
“The Old Whitgiftian Association is a separate organisation to John Whitgift Foundation. The Foundation does not own the sports grounds or buildings or manage its sporting operations, clubs, or events,” they said.
Which might come as a bit of relief to some people, as it means that the Foundation won’t be able to flog off the sports ground to developers, as they are currently attempting to do with the school and playground area of the Old Palace girls’ nursery and prep schools on nearby Melville Avenue.
The Whitgift Foundation has been undergoing its own financial struggles lately, announcing the closure of Old Palace School little more than 12 months ago. The Foundation is haemorrhaging tens of millions of pounds a year because of the continuing delays over its £1.4billion property gamble to redevelop the town centre shopping area.
According their last set of accounts, Whitgift Sports Club Ltd had creditors of £310,000 in August 2022. That was up from £259,000 owed by the company in 2021 and £239,000 the year before that.
The latest set of accounts, to August 2023, have not yet been filed with Companies House and are overdue.
According to some regular customers of the Whitgift Sports Club, the final straw for the business was when they had a significant bill for grounds maintenance called in. The sports club’s grounds work has in the past been carried out by staff from Whitgift School.
Bar tab: members have not been able to use their club cards; party bookings have been offered, but without use of bar facilities
The hockey club has already decided to move away, playing many of the club’s fixtures – men’s, women’s and juniors – at other venues around the borough. “Croydon Old Whitgiftian Hockey Club and Trinity Hockey Club have now merged, creating an exciting dynamic new club!” they announced at the start of the season, offering a “fusion” with “more fun, bigger socials and better hockey for everyone”.
There’s been less happy outcomes for others, though. One frustrated, and angry, customer contacted Inside Croydon, after they booked the dining venue at Whitgift Sports Club for September. “I paid £200 deposit… I tried to call them and the number wasn’t live. Tried social media messaging – no reply.”
So they phoned the person who had taken their booking, and deposit. “They said they were no longer involved and passed me to another person.”
This resulted in the customer being offered use of the venue for their party – but without having any bar facilities. “When I said ‘No’ and asked for my deposit back, they told me that they had no access to bank accounts or funds.”
The customer was told to contact one of Whitgift Sports Club’s last two remainer directors, Alan Blok, a Whitgift old boy and retired solicitor.
“He has been less than helpful,” the frustrated party-booker said. “He refused my refund, saying there are no funds. I have contacted the liquidators. I’ve had no response.
“I have also asked for their public liability insurance to see if I can claim that way – radio silence. The only things running now are the nursery and the pitches. The clubhouse is closed.”
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Read more: Police investigated child abuse claims at Whitgift last year
Read more: Foundation abandoned new school plan after taking £70m loan
Read more: Old Palace closure brought on by shaky Foundation finances
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I was going to suggest that perhaps they will combine the now closed Old Palace Junior School (formerly Croham Hurst School) with the sports club on the other side of the road and build a new settlement (‘Croham Village’?), but if the Whitgift Foundation don’t own the sports club land, who does own it ?
I’m wondering who owns the land too because whoever does could use it as an excuse to try to flog to developers regardless. That’s always my concern these days.
“Whitgiftian Association is the proprietor of the clubhouse and playing fields at Croham Manor Road, South Croydon, Surrey, which was acquired on 5th May 1950 at a cost of £4,700. The freehold title is held, as Bare Trustee, by Old Whitgiftian Trustees Limited. Under the terms of the conveyance the asset can only be sold, at that price, to the Whitgift Foundation.”
A real shame. But this situation will happen more and more now that independent schools have tightened budgets with the imposition of VAT.
It has nothing to do with independent schools and VAT on their fees. It was a hospitality business that could not pay its bills.
I foresee and executive housing estate in the offing …..
Sounds like you need to pay a visit to SpecSavers.
This stretch of land originally formed a few holes of the Croham Hurst Golf Course before it relocated further up the Hurst as the area become developed for new property.
It’s interesting that no one seems to note that Elmhurst Prep School also use this location for their sporting activities and must have an interest in this matter with a large empty site just across the road while they are located in cramped conditions stuck against a railway.