THE future of a much-loved sports and social club in Corringham has been thrown into doubt.

The Pegasus club in Herd Lane is on the brink of being sold off.

Built in 1961, it has about 1,000 members and is used by dozens of sports teams. It was the popular haunt for workers of the Coryton oil refinery, which shut down last year.

It is now hoped whoever buys the site - owned by Petroplus and put up for sale soon after the oil refinery’s closure in June 2012 - will leave it as a sports club.

But interest, some of which is thought to have come from as far away as Malaysia, could mean the club is knocked down and redeveloped.

Club members had hoped to raise the necessary funds to buy the club, but their plan failed.

Interest from East Thurrock United FC, who had looked at building a new stadium on part of the site, has also coolled in recent weeks.

As it stands community teams which use the sprawling, self-sufficient club - the equivalent in size to 37 football pitches - will be forced to find a new home by May, when the club’s current lease expires.

Paul Cairns, a Pegasus club committee member, said: “We haven’t got a clue what’s going to happen to the club. Bids have been put in, but we’re just waiting to hear.

“We should know more by Christmas.”

He added: “We’re very disappointed. We’ve been going through this for so long now but we’re resigned to certain things. It’s a sad time for the community, but it’s out of our hands.”