The fate of the 107-year-old North Otago Club is up in the air, following the agreed sale of the club's long-term home in Oamaru.
For the past 98 years the club has been based on the corner of Tees and Itchen Sts, but club president Peter Garvan said settlement for the unconditional sale of the building, at 1 Tees St, would take place on September 14.
The club was founded in 1906, on the exact date prohibition was introduced to New Zealand, but Mr Garvan said the ''proliferation'' of liquor outlets in recent years meant trading had not been at ''previous levels''.
He said the club's membership had agreed ''unanimously'' to sell the building.
''The members have looked at future options for sometime over the last two years and decided it was the right time to sell.''
The club bought the building for $25,000 in 1975, after renting the premises since 1915.
However, Mr Garvan said he was unable to disclose how much the club would receive from its sale to Oamaru-based company Cucina 1871, or if the club would relocate to a new home.
''That's a matter for the members later on, so the club's future has yet to be decided in the months ahead.''
Both the building and the Amicus statue on top of the building, were registered on the Waitaki District Heritage Register, and the building itself was also a category 1 listed building with the New Zealand Historical Places Trust.
Individual members had no rights to the funds, and if the club was disestablished, funds from the building's sale would go to charity, in accordance with the club's constitution, he said.
An application to the Waitaki District Licensing Agency for a liquor on-licence for the premises has been sent to the Alcohol Regulatory Licensing Authority in Wellington, but Mr Garvan said the outcome of that determination would have no bearing on the sale of the building.
