One of the best-known sports clubhouses in Ipswich is coming under the wrecking ball after being declared unsafe by its borough owners.

The Ransomes sports club, off Sidegate Avenue, was built in the 1960s for the huge engineering firm.

By the early 1990s the company had contracted and no longer needed the sports facilities which were handed over to the borough which leased them to the Ransomes’ Sports Club.

However two years ago, the lease was claimed back by the borough council and a survey of the building revealed there were serious concerns about it.

It was closed and replaced by temporary changing facilities.

Now it is being demolished and will be replaced by a new sports pavilion in the new year.

Ipswich councillor with responsibility for leisure, Bryony Rudkin, said: “The building was in a very poor state when we took it back and it is time it came down.

“To be honest it will not take a great deal of effort to pull it down.

“There is some pretty nasty stuff in there like asbestos which we have to deal with, but the site should soon be cleared.”

A design competition for a new pavilion is currently under way, and the new building should go up in the new year.

In the meantime, sports clubs that use the pitches at the ground will be able to continue to use the temporary changing facilities that have been on the site for several months.

The borough hopes that once the new pavilion is open, more sports will be attracted to the ground – which used to be home to cricket, bowls, and tennis as well as many football teams.