Union Club
At the instigation of the Reverend Gosset it was declared in 1875 that a new workingman’s club was to be built, and two hundred invitations were sent out to gentlemen in the area. In 1876 it was decided that the club would be called “Union Club”.
Above the door there is the Clubs emblem of crossed golf clubs and the date 1876 and was originally built between the Baths (now Horizon View Apartments) and Lower Lodge. Due to many storms the building was removed from this position and erected along Atlantic Way.
18th February 1879
The late high tides have caused great destruction here. The Pebbleridge has been driven back about 70ft, and a large proportion of the boulders scattered over the burrows. In front of the Club house, where the poles have been lately placed, a large mass of stones had collected forming it was thought a most effective barrier against the inroads of the sea. These were washed out carried across the roadway and dashed against the Club house, causing considerable alarm to the inmates, who with all possible speed left the building for a more secure retreat.
Mr Ellis has suffered severely. The grass between his house and the ridge is nearly covered with huge stones, and the hedge is washed away. The furniture and other articles on the ground floors of main house were much damaged by the water. Altogether it presents such a scene of desolation and destruction as has been seldom seen at Westward Ho! It is feared that unless previously removed the Club house will be swept away.
Source unknown
January 1958 Gazette:
Union Club closes after 80yrs
Members of the Union Cub Westward Ho! held their final meeting at the Club on Monday afternoon, the president Captain S L Bell presiding supported by the Hon. Sec. Colonel G L Stanley Smith and about 20 members.
Mr A W Bradley of Messrs Barrat Son and Taylor Bideford was appointed liquidator and there was a last formal resolution concerning the wind up of the Clubs affairs as from midnight December 31st and so ended an existence that has lasted since 1876.
The president then went on to pay a warm tribute to the staff and especially to the steward Mr R V Mitchell and Mrs Mitchell.
Framed photographs of the original club premises long since washed away by the sea to Bideford Free Library and special copies to Northam Urban Council and the Royal North Devon Golf Club for the purpose of historic memory.
The property is to be converted into holiday flats.
(Now ‘Atlantic Flats’)