An east Belfast club favoured by loyalists has shut down after its members voted to sell the building to a developer.
East Belfast Constitutional Club, more commonly known as the Con Club, closed earlier this month following the members’ meeting at the end of July.
The imposing three floor structure housed a number of bars stands on the Newtownards Road close to the junction with the Alberbridge Road.
It has hosted several high profile meetings of loyalists, including one in October 2019 to discuss and protest against the Brexit agreement between the UK and the EU.
In a social media post ahead of the closing of the bar to the public, the club thanked all its “faithful and loyal customers who over the years who have shown up and given us your custom”.
“Your showing up to our wee bar on the Newtownards Road has led to some fantastic memories being made for all,” the post read.
Jamie Bryson, one of the organisers of the 2019 meeting was attended by loyalists from across the north, said it is “obviously sad to see the club closing”.
“It was the scene of the important Brexit meeting in which loyalists from all backgrounds and shades came together to express their anger and opposition at the Irish Sea border,” Mr Bryson said.
“I’ve never seen or heard anger from ordinary people like I did that night. And it was justified and legitimate. It was before it became fashionable to oppose the Irish Sea border, but eventually the DUP- for a couple of years anyway- caught up and joined the fight.
“Sadly however in the end the DUP became Protocol implementers and betrayed everything for which they claimed to stand.”
The club also sponsored East Belfast FC, a club previously linked to individuals with connections to the UVF. The football team said it had to move quickly to secure new backers after the “unfortunate situation” with the club.
There have been reports the club was in danger of closing over the last near five years.
Following a February 2020 PSNI and HMRC raid in February 2020, the club said it was just “finding its feet once again and making massive strides in order to keep the place open” when this happened. The police said a number of licensing checks on a number of premises were carried out.
Then in 2022, club secretary Maurice Kitchen took to social media to deny rumours circulating it was in danger of closing.
The building, which housed the club for many decades, previously was the New Road Elementary School. One of its most famous former pupils was Brian Desmond Hurst, the director of the 1951 film Scrooge and Ourselves Alone about the War of Independence, banned in the north on its release.