Pensioners banned from upstairs at club after woman falls down stairs carrying pickled onions

Pensioners are locked in an extraordinary row with a social club after an accident involving a jar of pickled onions. Around 40 club members are in dispute with organisers at the Albany Club in Earlsdon after being kicked out of the room they have held weekly get-togethers in for the last 16 years.

The Over-55s Club claims an accident – in which one of its members broke a hip when she fell while carrying the pickled onions – is being used as an excuse to boot them out. Club members are furious at being moved from their traditional concert room at the venue in Earlsdon Street to a back lounge area they say is loud and uncomfortable.



The move is being justified on health and safety grounds and follows a fall by an elderly member while carrying the jar upstairs to the concert room. Shirley Pullen, president of the Over-55s Club, said: “One of our new members was told to use the back stairs and was carrying a jar of pickles for our raffle.

“She was unfamiliar with the layout of the club, panicked and turned to go back the way she knew, but lost her footing and fell. Despite falling down the stairs the pensioner managed to save the jar from breaking – and it was raffled off later that evening.