A 150-year-old Shropshire tennis club is finally to get a new pavilion - almost two years after an attack by arsonists gutted the previous building.
Shrewsbury Lawn Tennis Club’s historic clubhouse was set on fire in a late-night arson attack in June 2005, causing thousands of pounds worth of damage.
A replacement is on track to open at the end of May or beginning of June after plans were given the go-ahead by borough councillors last year.
Peter Davies, tennis club committee member, said proposals to build an elevated clubhouse had been considered to avoid flooding.
But he said these were dismissed in favour of a more traditional scheme in keeping with the former clubhouse.
The tennis club, on Crescent Fields, had been forced to use a temporary building installed after the arson attack.
Mr Davies said: “The club is used for county matches, some of which haven’t taken place because of the clubhouse situation.
“We did look at the possibility of building something higher up, but the cost was prohibitive. We had to go back to building something like what we already had.”
He said committee members were planning to put on a special event to mark the opening of the new clubhouse, but said details were yet to be finalised.
The new clubhouse will include a bar and changing rooms.
Up to 20 firefighters tackled the blaze at the tennis club two years ago.
They spent three hours on the scene to make sure the single storey building was safe.
No-one was injured in the fire.
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