About Us
Welcome to the Goring Conservative Club. We are a Private Members Club
affiliated to The A.C.C. (Association of Conservative Clubs. Located in Goring-by-Sea, Worthing, West Sussex. Our Club is run by the members for the members.
There is a fantastic function hall (see photos below) - available to hire for weddings, birthday parties, anniversaries or corporate events at extremely competitive prices. The space has excellent acoustics which makes it an ideal venue for bands to practice or perform. A large projector TV is available in the function room along with its own private bar. Please Contact Us or call and speak to Gemma on (01903) 503960 for more information.
We have a bright comfortable members' bar with pool table, jukebox, darts and 2 TV screens for sports and music. Our snooker room has three superbly maintained full sized snooker tables. There is a sunny enclosed garden with smoking shelter. Our bars carry a comprehensive range of ales, lagers, wines, spirits, cocktails and soft drinks all at very competitive members prices. Free wifi
The Club offers events throughout the year like quizzes, curry nights, Goodwood trips, singers, bands etc.
Make sure we have your up to date email address so that you may receive our monthly members' newsletter.
A Brief History of the Club
Goring had grown to such a size by the early 1920’s that the Conservatives in the village decided a political club was a necessity. The Goring Conservative Club was opened in 1927 and they were proud to be the first local Party to provide a home for their activities. The formation of the Club in 1927 was made possible by the generosity of two people.
Mr. C. E. Green Senior, having lived in the village nearly all his working life was desirous of seeing a Conservative Club in the district. During the winter of 1926-27 he called the Committee of the Conservative Association together. He made known to them his generous intention to present a piece of land sufficient to build a spacious Club with billiards room, bar, dance hall and kitchen, cloakrooms on the ground floor and Caretaker’s rooms above. Mr. Green further agreed to advance all the money required for the building and equipment, at a moderate rate of interest, allowing the Club to repay as funds permitted.
The Committee accepted Mr. Green’s kind offer and asked Mr. H. M. Potter, an Architect, to prepare the plans. Whilst these preliminaries were proceeding, Mrs. Molson, who until 1926 had resided at Goring Hall, heard what was proposed and most generously felt that she could perpetuate the memory of her late husband, Major Molson, by providing the cost of the dance hall. It was therefore named the “John Molson Hall”. The late Major Molson had been a staunch Conservative and a generous supporter of the cause in Goring, holding the office of Chairman of the Association until his death.
In the spring of 1927 a contract was entered into with Mr. G. W. Benn of Worthing for the erection of the Club and Hall at a total cost of £3,526. Mrs. Molson paid part of this sum (£1,978) representing the cost of the Hall and a proportion of the Architect’s fee, leaving £1,541 as the Club’s share.
In June 1927 two stones were due to be laid in front of the building, one by Mr. C. E. Green Senior, the donor of the site and the other by Colonel E. W. Margesson C.M.G. On the near completion of the Hall they decided to invite Mrs. Molson to lay the two stones at the entrance to the Hall. Mrs. Molson kindly consented and asked her sister Contessa Pignatorre to lay one of the stones. This event took place in July 1927 when Mrs. Molson made a charming speech explaining her great interest and wishing it success. There was a large attendance and satisfaction was generally expressed at the appearance and arrangement of the building.
The formal opening took place on October 22nd 1927 when a Member, Major J. S. Courtauld M.C, kindly performed this function. The Hall was nearly full, many attending from Bognor, Littlehampton, Brighton and Worthing as well as most of the local Conservatives.
In June 2012 the Club unfortunately fell into financial difficulty. A working party looked at ways to make the Club more viable and the members approved such plans along with a new Committee. They secured finance with plans to make every effort to ensure the Club's facilities were used to their fullest potential. We now have a membership of several hundred people and are very much looking forward to a bright future.