H O T T E S T L O C A L PA P E R S I N C E 1 9 8 6 The Byron Shire Echo • Volume 40 #21 • October 29, 2025 • www.echo.net.au
Bangalow Bowlo closure shocks community Aslan Shand Last Friday (24 October) locals, visitors, and employees of the Bangalow Bowlo were shocked to discover that it had been closed with little or no notice. Workers at the Bowlo were told via email just hours before they were due to start work, and a sign went up on the doors stating that, ‘The club is closed until further notice. A review has been conducted and the state of the clubhouse, the financial losses as well as the trading outlook has determined that there is no other possible outcome’
Ɛëǔ ŊĕżƐ Ķŕ ƐIJĕ ĎëſŊ A former staff member at the bowling club told The Echo that she was informed that her services would likely no longer be required just two hours before her shift was due to start. ‘I called my direct manager and he didn’t know any more than I did – it was clear that even management had been kept in the dark,’ the staff member, who asked not to be named, said. ‘I’d been making plans based on promises that had been made about my future work and then suddenly they just completely pulled the rug out from underneath all of us.’ The staff member said that she and her fellow workers were now left scrambling to find new jobs. She is seeking two-to-three weeks’ worth of wages for the upcoming shifts she had been counting on. ‘At least it’s Christmas so there’s a lot of hospitality work around but just losing your job, suddenly like that is not good,’ she said.
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Angry locals Simon Evans, Craig Adams, Jess Smythe, Ian Holmes, Sally Schofield, and Cr Asren Pugh (standing) have come together to form a new Bowlo Advocacy group to look at ways the Bowlo can be returned to the community. Photo Jeff Dawson The staff member said that more than money, she just wanted the Bowlo to open up again. ‘It’s the best job I’ve ever had. We had an amazing team…some of them were my best friends. After the news broke there were staff crying. People couldn’t believe it.’ ‘The Bowlo is such a pillar of the community. It really means something to people here.’ As far as the justification for the closure provided by Norths, the staff member said she didn’t buy it.
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‘If the building is so unsafe why were we all working the night before the closure?’ she said. ‘I don’t think that’s what’s really going on.’ The Banglow Bowlo was handed over to Norths Collective three years and four days prior to the closure, after a contentious vote by members of the Bowlo. The vote taken on Sunday, 13 November 2022 saw 289 ‘Yes’ votes versus 192 ‘No’ votes in favour of handing the club to Norths Collective. Norths
Collective, whose business model relies heavily on income from gambling machines, including from their flagship club North Sydney Leagues Club, took over the club. The terms of that amalgamation included how the club was to be operated, and under what circumstances it could be closed – set out in a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that applies for the first ten years. This required Norths to do $3.5 million worth of work on the facility in the first ten years.
ÉIJĕſĕ ĶƆ ƐIJĕ ćſĶīIJƐ ĪƖƐƖſĕ mşſƐIJƆ żſşŔĶƆĕĎȃ ‘As a long-time resident of the Bangalow and Byron community, it saddens me to see Norths Collective take advantage of a once-struggling community asset,’ Bowlo member Rohin Knight told The Echo. ‘We, as a majority were sold on the prospect of progress and ▶ Continued on page 2
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