Canoe club on move as rent trebled

Members of a long-standing canoe club, with more than 100 members, say they have been ordered out of their Black Country home – after seeing the rent trebled.

They fear the firm that owns the club's base at Aldridge Marina wants to transform the canalside location into a factory. They have been given until August 11 to vacate the site off Brickyard Road. Members from Royal Sutton Canoe Club claim landlords KR Hardy told them the annual rent for its 60ft narrowboat mooring was due to increase from £1,300 to £4,000.

And the organisation was left stunned when they were served with an eviction notice.

Club committee member Sarah Witheridge said the group, which has members from all over the Black Country and has been going for almost 20 years, could be forced to fold in the short term – also affecting the many young people's groups it is linked to.

"Everyone is absolutely distraught," she said.

"If we cannot find anywhere else, we may have to shut for the time being. That would be awful, because our membership has being growing quite rapidly and we are just getting some good weather.

"The sad thing is that on top of the 100 plus members we have, there are a number of groups like the Scouts and Guides affiliated to us and use our facilities, so it will affect a lot of people."

She said a number of residents whose boats were permanently moored at the site were concerned they could also be forced out.

She said rumours were strongly circulating that some kind of development was earmarked for the site.

"Everyone is really panicking," she said.

Recently the club held a two-day sponsored paddle to raise £16,000 for a new storage facility.

Members meet every Saturday afternoon and hold regular river trips and excursions. Nobody from KR Hardy was available for comment today.