Community heavyweight and nearby resident John Mackay is a member of the bowling club and fighting the move, as is lobbyist and Braddon businessman Peter Conway, also a club member.

The pair took up the cause after hearing on Thursday that the nine poker machines were to be moved from the club, on Elder Street, to the other clubs owned by the Ainslie Group – the Gungahlin Lakes club and the Ainslie Football club.

Mr Mackay said the bowling club members were angry and disappointed that the poker machines were being moved without consultation, a move that signalled the first step in selling the site. After meeting with management last week, he came away convinced the bowling greens would be moved to Gungahlin and the club sold this year, he said, calling on the Ainslie Group to come clean over its plans.

"As soon as you pull these pokies out, there will be a number of people who will stop going there which will affect the bar trade and the bistro trade and the TAB trade, and the Ainslie Group will have another reason to close it down expeditiously," he said. "What they want to do is sell the site and wash their hands of the whole thing."

Mr Mackay said the group looked to make a huge windfall gain on the site, which was worth "somewhere north of $3 million".

Group president Malcolm Scholes confirmed a value of $2.5 million to $3.5 million, but said the group had spent more than $3.5 million on the club since taking it over when it was on its knees and facing redevelopment in the late 1990s. It had operated at an ongoing loss since.

The group had promised then to keep the club open for five years, so had "well and truly upheld our commitment", he said.

"I can understand John and Peter getting a little bit excited about their little boutique venue being eroded but what we have in conjunction with this is a really positive story about the future relocation of bowling out to Gungahlin, not doing what others have done, is which is acquire bowling clubs and capitalise on them and not support bowls anymore," he said.

The poker machines were being moved because they would get a better yield in the other clubs.

The group had applied to vary its lease to allow childcare and wider club uses to make it more viable to developers but had not yet decided when it would sell, which could be years away, he said. It would stay open in the meantime, perhaps with reduced hours or other changes.

"It's part of growing up as a city, this is not the first time it's happened," he said, hitting out at Mr Mackay for his involvement on the Raiders club board, given the Raiders' decision to close and redevelop its Braddon club close by.

But Mr Mackay said he was on the team board, which had nothing to do with the club decision.

"Me being on the Raiders is absolutely irrelevant. Malcolm initiated this by pulling the pokies out and signalling that the club will go within a year, that's what's brought this on, not me ... It's not me Malcolm needs to do deal with. It's the people who play bowls there every day of their life."

He said the Braddon Raiders club had been "terrible".

"As you look over there [at the bowling club] this afternoon these dozens and dozens and dozens of aged people having a wonderful afternoon," he said. "The Braddon club was just pokies and booze. There was nothing else."

Mr Conway said the sale of the bowling club looked to be "just a land grab". The 85-year-old club, built with the help of United States servicemen, was a piece of Canberra history, and he was having a report prepared on its cultural significance with a view to getting heritage protection.

He didn't object to redevelopment and said a childcare centre would allow the club to make money and retain bowling greens.

Mr Conway, who runs Braddon business group the Braddon Forum, has called on Chief Minister Andrew Barr to intervene, saying it was "very concerned at what appears to be a current disregard for including community facilities in redevelopments".

"It's just a diminution of local community meeting points," he said.