A HISTORIC social club which changed stewardship five years ago has been nationally recognised for its improving fortunes.

Clent Community and Social Club’s Dawn and Steve Bubb walked away with the ‘club turnaround’ prize at the recent 2015 Club Mirror Awards ceremony in Manchester.

Now in its 24th year, the awards highlight the breadth and depth of the country’s top social venues, from sports and social clubs, to working men's clubs and company clubs.

Clent Social Club, which was originally formed back in 1886, was one of eight from across the UK shortlisted for the award.

Dawn, of Halesowen, said: “I was so thrilled to bits when we won. I was absolutely over the moon.

“When we were nominated I was pretty confident, but at the ceremony we were told that about 15,000 clubs from across the country applied to be given one of the awards.

“That’s when I said to Steve that we didn’t have a cat in hell’s chance!

“We’ve been here for five years, so it has not just been an overnight turnaround. It has taken a lot of hard work and effort from a number of people.

“We now serve a number of guest ales and traditional ciders, have entertainment every Saturday evening, and live sport on the TV. We nearly have 500 members and the club is just a happy place to be.”

As well as the ‘turnaround’ award, the Pool Furlong-based venue was also nominated for ‘entertainment club of the year’, while Dawn was also personally nominated for ‘bar manager of the year’.

She added: “It was great to be nominated for three awards and to come away with one of them is brilliant.

“Hopefully this won’t be our last.

“We’re a family orientated club, were people can come together and socialise in a friendly place.

“A lot of clubs in the area charge from £10 to £50, so our membership prices of £5 for families, £3 for singles or £2 for seniors are what keeps us popular as we’re not going to break a family’s bank.”