The closing of Canberra's Italian club is a sign of the struggles facing ethnic clubs in the capital, the club secretary said.
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Italo Australian club secretary Gary Kent said the club had accumulated serious debts over the years, unhelped by dwindling patronage and poor investments in the decades before.
"It's been a slow decline over many years, many people have invested time and money and it's a great shame. It was a well known and loved Canberra institution," Mr Kent said.
The club was placed under administration in August before the administrator notified the Australian Securities Investment Commission the club was placed in liquidation.
When The Canberra Times contacted Mr Kent on Thursday he said he was unaware of the administrator's decision but had seen it coming.
He said the club had a long history of financial difficulties.
Mr Kent said at one point during its time in Forrest the club didn't even have an Italian restaurant on site.
"People were burnt because on several occasions groups of Italians put in large amounts of money to help keep the club afloat and that didn't work and people were reluctant to invest further funds," Mr Kent said.
The club sold its long held Forrest premises in 2015 to Italo Financing and was given space rent free on the premises before the new owners folded to the Capital Hotels Group.
At the time, development documents showed the club had failed to recover financially from extensions in the 1980s.
After the sale to the group, the club moved to the Capital Golf Course in Narrabundah in 2016.
"We attempted to trade there, that was difficult," Mr Kent said.
He said the Italo Australian Club had understood Italo Financing would cover the costs of the new club house in Narrabundah but the two groups went to the ACT Magistrate's Court when an agreement couldn't be made.
The club lost their court challenge in July and the club was placed in administration in August.
"The directors felt that the club didn't have a sustainable financial future and resolved to put the club in administration," Mr Kent said.
"We're very disappointed. We worked hard to save the club and had things been done differently over many years, including our time as directors, possibly we could have saved it.
Mr Kent said pokies revenue wasn't as strong as it used to be and younger Italians weren't as committed to the club, the latter a problem typical of any ethnic club he said.
"Similar clubs in Canberra are struggling. The Polish Club is going well but most of them have sort of gone bad," Mr Kent said.
Despite not being Italian himself, Mr Kent said he'd always had a soft spot for the club and was a frequent visitor before it asked him to help with governance in 2015.
"Unless there is a wish in the Italian community and particular leaders of the Italian community for a club I wouldn't be optimistic that there would be a new Italian club," he said.
