Cricket club license terms agreed as it is ‘crucial to its survival’

A cricket club which ‘unknowingly breached’ its licensing conditions has been granted permission to hold events and sell alcohol to non-members despite a flood of objections by local residents.

Shaw Cricket Club on Mark Lane applied for a change of its license terms, stating it was ‘crucial to its survival as a community club’. 

The Oldham club had already been holding fundraising events and hiring out its clubhouse for private parties for several months in what they claimed was an ‘unknowing’ breach of their former licensing conditions.

Now the managers are trying to rectify the mistake by securing a full premises license. 

At a licensing hearing today (Tuesday), interim Vice Chair of the club Martin Ashfield told the committee: “We not only work within the community, the club should be a source of pride.

"We’re a small club that punches above our weight with county representatives.

“But we are competing with wealthy clubs like Bolton.

"To do that, we do need the bar. It would simply be putting us on the same footing as other clubs.

“But I want to be clear: we are not a pub. We will never be a pub.

"This is the type of license we need in order to run the club in the correct way but we have no intention of competing with other bars in the area, and we don’t get any footfall outside of our matches and events.” 

The 127-year-old club, a non-profit organisation with several distinguished junior teams, and men’s and women’s senior teams, relies on the income from alcohol sales to carry out repairs and improvements to the grounds, Mr Ashfield explained.

Currently, the club is trying to raise funds for vital £10,000 drainage works and projects to improve disabled access. 

But local residents objected to the licensing change, with the town hall receiving 27 letters of objection from neighbours, along with two letters of support.

Lisa Smirk, a resident representing the community in the hearing, said: “Clough is a lovely community where residents become lifelong friends.

"The cricket club and residents used to have a good relationship, with the only complaints being a smashed window from a stray cricket ball. 

“But since 2021, this relationship has unfortunately soured.

"Complaints became more about late night partying and noise.

"We do understand that the club needs to raise money and be financially stable – but at what cost for residents living nearby?

“We have already been negatively impacted by the events held in breach of the licensing conditions.

"It’s no longer about cricket, it’s about developing a commercial events venue.”

Complaints by locals highlighted major parking issues, with the club’s on-site car park limited to 30 spaces.

Visitors often park all the way along Mark Lane and surrounding residential streets, causing a ‘traffic nightmare’, according to residents.

The situation has also sparked fears that emergency vehicles would struggle to get through the lanes. 

Others raised concerns in their letters about noise, such as 82-year-old Marian Buckley, who wrote: “I want to enjoy my surroundings of peace and quiet day and night.

"It will also upset my little dog with noisy people walking past, particularly at night.”

And Mirella Boswell, who lives near the club with her one-year-old son, and complained: "We have spent all hard-earned money move somewhere quiet and peaceful where we can raise our son."

But others disputed the harsh criticism of the club, with one local dad describing the ‘friendly, welcoming and a very safe environment’ with a ‘thriving junior cricket section which is the envy of most Oldham Cricket clubs’. 

The new license was granted by councillors and officers, which will allow the club to open for licensable activities – like film screenings and private events – from 11am, with outdoor music expected to be shut off by 9pm, and indoor music by 11pm Sunday to Thursday and midnight on Friday and Saturday.

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