TEN-PIN bowling enthusiasts and health club members were shocked by the sudden closure of facilities in a former ice rink building this week.

The Kascada Bowl and adjoining Meridian Health and Fitness centre, overlooking the River Wear in Freeman's Place, Durham City, closed in midweek.

Members arriving at the health club were told it was closed from Tuesday evening, while the adjoining bowling alley stopped operating at the end of yesterday.

It follows recent planning approval being granted by the city council for proposals to convert the building into 93 upmarket riverside apartments, with associated office space, plus a 150-space basement car park.

Users of the bowling alley and health club were taken aback by the sudden closure.

Geoff Hunter, a former ice hockey fan from the days the Durham Wasps regularly filled the old Riverside Rink, booked a party at Kascada Bowl for his daughter Charlotte's tenth birthday, at the weekend.

He received a message on his home telephone answering machine, on Tuesday evening, saying the bowling alley would be closed "in the next couple of days".

Mr Hunter immediately went to retrieve his £20 deposit, but said it was "a real shame" the city was losing a popular facility.

"It's shocking. It was a good place for the kids to go. We used to run things down there for a kids' football club and it's a real loss."

Health club member Helen Tomlinson, who said her monthly direct debit membership payment only went out of her account on Monday, arrived at the Meridian for a swim on Tuesday evening, to be told it was closed.

"It was a surprise it happened so soon. They were only advertising for new members as recently as last week."

Meridian manager Wayne Peachey did not want to comment, but Kascada manager Michael Horsman said: "Reports of the place being bulldozed have not helped.

"It's a huge loss for Durham, we have a lot of kids, disabled people and other people who regularly use the place.

"I understand it is hoped Kascada can relocate somewhere else in Durham."

Mr Horsman said between 20 and 25 jobs would be lost at both Kascada and Meridian.

The ice rink closed in 1996 and re-opened as Kascada Bowl, a 20-lane bowling alley, in July 1997, operated by Strandbay. It was run by directors Pauline and son Joseph Priano, who could not be contacted for comment yesterday.

Meridian Health and Fitness opened two years later and as recently as September was said to have 1,700 members.