A CENTURY-OLD working men's club threatened with closure is facing a brighter future after members turned out in force in a bid to save it.

More than 60 members of Cob Wall WMC, Daisy Lane, Blackburn, turned up for an extraordinary meeting and vowed to fight the proposed sale of the building. Bass Breweries owns the site and have put it on the market for £70,000.

Members fear that if the club--one of the oldest in Lancashire--is sold the building may be used for some other purpose, forcing members to join another club.

Bass has agreed to look again at the sale if the club, which owes the brewers around £80,000, can form a new committee and show a new balance sheet.

President Les Smith said if Bass agreed to loan the club enough money -- around £2,000-£4,000 -- to put a new roof on the building they would be able to start putting on more events and bringing in more money.

He said: "There was a good turnout for the meeting and things are looking much brighter than they were a couple of months ago. We've got a new committee which seems to know what it is doing and people have got a few ideas of events we can hold.

"All we need is for the brewery to give us a chance. We don't want the club to be sold because it could be used for anything. I'm sure we can turn the corner once we start to get a few more people in."

Bass confirmed it is working with the club to try to solve the financial problems, including the possibility of a voluntary sale.