A PENSIONER who spent the best years of her life dancing the night away in Accrington's grand old Conservative Club has spoken of her disgust at the way it has been left to rot.
Jean Tomlinson, 77, of Westwood Street, said she had spent some of the happiest moments of her life in the famous building.
She said: "We used to go 'up the Con' every Saturday night to dance. There was a bar but we didn't bother with it as it was such a nice place to be."
Jean, who used to work in the sewing room at Hambledon Mill on Marlbor-ough Road, Accrington, brought this picture to the Observer, showing a works night out in the Conservative Club in 1951.
She said: "I can vouch for the fact that it was one of the best dance halls in the country. It was always busy because the surroundings were brilliant.
"There used to be a band playing on the stage and people dancing all around. I guess many people met their future husbands and wives in there."
Jean met her own husband Roy, who was from Lincolnshire, in 1952 and married a year later. The couple have two sons, Ian, 48, and Stephen, 44, and two grandsons Mark, 21, and Joe, 17.
Jean said: "It is such a shame it has been left like this as it used to be a place that people from Accrington really enjoyed.
"Whoever owns it now has let its standards drop. I was very sad when I read about the state of the building in the Observer, especially when I remember how grand it used to be.
"After me and Roy married we used to go to the club together to meet our friends. I have such happy memories. Roy loved the club as much as I did."
The owners of the club, City Pace Ltd, have yet to respond to Hyndburn Council's environmental health departments billing them for boarding up the premises.
A spokesman said: "We have yet to receive any contact from the believed owner.
"It is likely that an order will be placed on the building to make sure that when it is sold the council will recoup the money it has spent making it safe."
