MEMBERS of a Southampton social club are celebrating a massive £1m windfall from bus bosses.

Hundreds of people are in line for a slice of the huge offer for the Southampton Transport Club if they decide to sell up.

About 800 members, many of them former bus drivers, can choose either to pocket about £1,250 or reinvest the cash in a new club.

The huge lump sum is more than double what the social club site at the Portswood Road bus depot is worth and shows how keen owners of the rest of the area, First Bus, are to remove the last obstacle to its development.

Members are now voting on whether to accept the bid, which is for the remaining 60 years on the Southampton Transport Club's lease.

If the 800 members accept the bid they can decide whether to invest in a new site or divide it among themselves.

Sitting in the middle of the massive depot site, the club has been a potential thorn in the side of long-standing proposals to turn the depot into a massive supermarket. Alternatively, it could accommodate as many as 250 new houses, although no planning application has yet been made.

A spokesman for First Bus confirmed the details of the offer and said: "It is no secret that we have been looking at a relocation in order to invest in more modern premises."

Club chairman Cliff Bulbrooke said: "Nobody owns the building. It's a funny arrangement drawn up by the old boss to ensure we couldn't be pushed out and it has proved to be the case.

"They want us out so they can sell the whole site and so they've offered us £1m for the club. It is only worth about £400,000 so don't ask me why they offered us £1m. But this would be enough money to relocate.

"It is entirely up to the members. What I understand is that a lot of them would like a club of some sort elsewhere, but that is only the ones I have spoken to. If we did move we wouldn't want to go outside of the area and definitely not outside of town. That is out of the question. I think it would be a pity if it goes. The transport company has been there so long, it would break the link."

One member, who did not want to be named, said: "They will probably vote not to relocate and to take the money."

Ballot papers have already been sent out and the result is to be announced at a private meeting on Wednesday, April 14.