THEY were once integral to the area they served. They rallied the political troops at election time, ran sports teams, entertained people, and even carried out charity work.

But Conservative clubs are facing a difficult battle to stay popular at a time when people are more politically apathetic than ever, and the generation gap looms large, the Daily Echo has found.

Declining memberships and changing tastes are making them look to either get new faces in the door - or even downsize.

The members of Southbourne Conservative Club recently voted to have the front of the building redeveloped into flats so it could afford a new, smaller club at the back.

Treasurer Joyce Clough said: "We have had financial problems for a while. We've been running at a loss for around five years and the smoking ban has hit us hard.

"We have just over 500 members, but 20 years ago we used to have about 1,500."

Malcolm Johnson, 73, from Wimborne Conservative Club, said membership had been dropping off for years, though the last couple of years had seen an upturn - which is perhaps because members can use its car park.

All the clubs the Daily Echo spoke to said they were less politically active than they used to be.

That is a view echoed by Ralph Powell, the secretary of Bournemouth West, which was founded in the 1870s and is the oldest Conservative Club in town.

It used to open at 6am on polling day and host Tory meetings around 15 to 20 years ago, he said. Now the club is even considering changing its name to the Conservative and Social Club.

Membership has dropped which Mr Powell put down to the generation gap. People used to join because their parents had. Maybe they don't join today for the same reason.

Friday night was the club's first ever singles disco, an attempt to draw in new people. "We have got to keep trying things," said Mr Powell, 75.

Kinson Conservative Club is one of the biggest in the country - it has 2,500 members and five different rooms and games areas.

It has plenty of sports teams, a very successful monthly line dancing night and it still does work for the community - family days and meals for the elderly.

But even it is facing problems in getting members to use the club and has started a disco aimed at young people.

General manager Julia Turner said: "Club life generally is currently down, I think you will find that across the board at the moment and the smoking band has hit us hard.

"Our aim is to get more interested in the younger people."

"We have a healthy membership but there's a big difference between having a big membership and people coming through the door. It's a mixed age range but I would say we could do with appealing more to the younger generation."

The club is clean and newly refurbished - but it is still unmistakably a traditional club, complete with portraits of former Conservative leaders looking down in the members' lounge.

Even Ian Duncan Smith gets a space.

Vice chairman, Charlie Howard, 82, who went ashore with the Royal Marines on D-Day and who has been a member since 1942, put the changing club scene down to the changes in society.

"At one time if you wanted something done, you would get everyone wanting to do it. But today it's the other way round, it's a problem finding someone.

"Life's changed, hasn't it?"