12/02/2026
Message from our Chairman:-
Hello everyone,
I just thought I’d bring you all up to speed on the current situation and where we stand with CSSC as well as provide you all with a timeline of events for context.
As some of you may be aware, CSSC issued a letter of eviction out of the blue via their solicitors Bates Wells back in July 25. The date given for us to leave was the 30th January 2026.
There was no consultation or prior notice of this happening, in fact we, the Management Committee, received the notice one day before all members were emailed to say we were being disaffiliated and closed as a CSSC members Club. In my opinion this is not a very professional way to conduct or carry out business.
After many attempts to speak to representatives of CSSC, We eventually managed to tie them down where they reluctantly agreed to a face to face meeting to discuss the decision and CSSC proposed a date of the 14th August 2025. In the meantime, we had no information to give our understandably concerned members or staff.
Myself and Mike Westwell met with representatives of CSSC at their High Wycombe office on the 14th of August 2025. This meeting was solely instigated by us, which flies in the face of their continuing statements that they have regularly consulted with us.
We were told that we were to be closed and it was based on “a business decision.” We asked them to expand on that but they didn’t.
We were simply told that your Club didn’t fit within their business model.
We believe that after the length of time we have been in sole occupation of this land we deserve better than that.
We have over a period of over 7months tried to engage with CSSC and negotiate a solution, but they refuse to engage and their stance has not changed that we are to be closed and disaffiliated.
We question the right CSSC have to close us and claim the land as belonging to them.
The basis for this is that when CSSC were formed in 1921 it was established for the purpose of being a central organisation to encourage sport and recreation for all forms of amateur sport and social recreation throughout the Civil Service and one of their objectives was to carry out trust business including holding of land as custodian trustee for associations and clubs. The reason for this was because unincorporated bodies (management committees) were unable to own land outright at that time. This is the position we believe we are in with CSSC. We believe the land and everything on it is owned by the Maidstone members. We believe the evidence we have will strongly support this view should matters progress to court. We certainly do not fit within the fundamental characteristics of a Licence to Occupy which does not give exclusive possession, is not transferable from one committee to another and is a short term arrangement.
We would like to give you a brief history of the club and how it came into being. The members built the Club in 1962 on land sourced by the members and leased from Crown Estates for 2 seven year periods. We have been in constant occupation from then until present day, we have enjoyed exclusive and sole possession since 1962 and have had many different management committees over this time.
The building and development of everything from the Sports Field to the Clubhouse and Car Park was done by members. There is a rich heritage and tradition, not to mention a sense of pride and achievement running through the veins of this place. We have built a place of safety, a place of inclusion for people of all ages that provides social and sporting interaction for everyone.
We would like to also be clear that CSSC have no dealings or management with the day to day running of the club. There is a lot of misconception that CSSC pay our staff, arrange our contracts such as with the brewery and hold the premises Licence. This is all untrue. The complete running of the Club is managed and paid for by the Maidstone club with no involvement from CSSC at all.
That’s the history lesson over and hopefully you will all now understand the reasons and events that have put us in this position.
Now to address recent events. We informed CSSC of our position and views on their claims of ownership which we whole heartily refute. We also made it clear to CSSC we were willing to defend our claims in court should they instigate proceedings, which they have so far failed to do. What they have done instead is threaten the officers and Committee with personal liability if we do not simply give up your Club and vacate, handing everything over to CSSC to give to a new leaseholder chosen solely by them. As to the nature of the leaseholder and what business would occupy the premises this has changed several times from staying as it is in its current form but run by an outside company and not a Committee to being a Gym or even a Nursery. It would appear that there are many options still being considered. This is not what we were led to believe at the “Town Hall” style meeting chaired by Wendy Eley of CSSC in late 2025 in which she led us to believe the Club would close one day and open the next. This could never have happened as they instructed us to cancel all contracts with all suppliers and carry out dilapidations to the building removing all bar equipment etc so how on earth could that ever be a smooth transition?
The Solicitors acting for the club advised CSSC and their Legal Representatives that the most appropriate action to settle our dispute is to settle in court as our Legal battle is still very much pending with CSSC failing to provide any documents or evidence of the purported Licence to Occupy they claim we have. CSSC’s Solicitors, Bates Wells, did in fact acknowledge this point and confirmed the next steps would be Court proceedings. However, on Monday the 2nd of January at 6.30 am representatives of CSSC, which CSSC have confirmed they instructed, turned up and attempted to cut the locks off the Gate with the intention being to take possession of the land and prevent us from carrying on with our lawful business.
To be clear, the people in attendance appointed by CSSC were a Locksmith, Dog Handlers and an Enforcement Agent. The Enforcement Agent instructed the Locksmith to cut the Lock and I prevented them from doing so. I was assaulted so the police were informed and attended very soon after. The CSSC representatives were told to leave as they did not have the legal right to carry out any of the actions they were attempting.
Just so we are crystal clear, for the few deluded people that believe this was a legal action carried out by legal representatives of a court, IT WAS NOT!!!!
The people in attendance were not court appointed Bailiffs, they were Enforcement agents appointed by CSSC. There is a world of difference. The Enforcement agent even told us we had not paid our rent as one of the reasons he was instructed. He seemed surprised when we told him that we had never paid rent since 1962 which led us to believe he was given incorrect information from CSSC in order to get him to attend and carry out this action.
The Enforcement Officer was not in receipt of the correct paperwork, which would consist of an “order of possession” signed by a judge, they simply had the original letter from CSSC solicitors. A notice of eviction is not a court approved document and has no standing whatsoever. I could type it and turn up at your house and say I want you to leave, would you go? I think not. CSSC have to get a court order it’s a simple as that. The entry attempt on Monday did not have the necessary paperwork and was an unlawful attempt to enter in which an assault took place.
Should you still have doubts that we are telling you the truth please contact CSSC and ask if they were appointed by them. We have confirmation they did appoint them from both their Solicitors and an email received by a member in answer to that very question.
CSSC’s unlawful actions were immediately reported to the solicitors acting for the Club who wrote a stern email to CSSC solicitors, Bates Wells, to demand they confirm their client, CSSC, would not attempt this unlawful action again. We received a reply to say Bates Wells were liaising with their client and would revert back to us, which gave us the impression Bates Wells were unaware of CSSC’s actions or intentions.
Now to bring you up to present day;
We are still in occupation, we are still trading and carrying on with all of our usual activities. There are a few changes taking place regarding security measures, some of which is carrying out strengthening works to the gate to ensure that if another unlawful attempt is made to gain entry we are in a better position to prevent illegal possession taking place. The Gates are currently locked 24/7 but fully manned at all times. We are looking to install a card/fob entry system at the Gates and we will update you as this progresses.
We feel we need to fully address some of the misinformation being put out there by a few individuals that in our opinion have a personal axe to grind with the committee.
Below is a list of facts, not conjecture, assumptions, misinformation or propaganda, just facts!!
We were given notice of disaffiliation and closure without any prior consultation by CSSC in July 2025.
We arranged a face to face with CSSC at their office in High Wycombe August 14th 2025 in which they simply reiterated their statement that we would be closed and our premises offered out to the open market on a lease basis, the details to be confirmed.
We questioned CSSC as to why they were taking this action and closing a successful, well managed, popular and profitable Club. They simply told us “it’s a business decision” no further explanation or justification for this decision was given. We deserve better than that. We also challenged their right to take any of these actions.
There followed a period of exchanges between us, and mainly CSSC solicitors and our respective Solicitors with CSSC trying to stamp their ownership on our premises. We obviously argued this as we believe the land is held by CSSC on our behalf as we have already stated.
During the various exchanges the threat of personal liability to the Officers of the Committee increased. In our opinion this is to try and bully us into submission.
On Monday 2nd Feb 2026, 2 days after CSSC’s proposed eviction date, enforcement officers attended site along with locksmiths and dog handlers and tried to gain illegal entry by cutting off locks. Once again, these were NOT bailiffs! They were merely enforcement officers tasked with possessing the property by any means. We prevented this from happening. A member passing at the time spoke to the dog handlers whereby he asked the purpose of their visit. They responded by saying they did not know why they were there and they were just told to be there. If these were actual court appointed bailiffs with the correct paperwork, they would in fact be in possession. They were not!!!
We have since reinforced the gates to prevent any further attempts to cut off locks or gain any unlawful access. We have 24 hour surveillance and we would like to state once again we believe we are lawfully occupying the premises and we will not be moving.
We provide a valuable community asset as well as a very well supported members club. We will continue to fight as we believe we have overwhelming support as well as the right to be here. This is a time for unity and pulling together. Any personal grievances should be put to one side, and all efforts should be channelled in to saving our Club. We are of the opinion that anyone that disagrees with this has clearly not got the clubs or the members best interests at heart. We are stronger together so lets all pull together and save our club!
Savemaidstoneclub.co.uk
Thank you all for your continued support.
Help us save the Maidstone Civil Service Club that the CSSC want to take from us and turn into an unaffiliated lease.
