Worried residents have warned that the planned regeneration of a popular community centre could marginalise the very people it was built to help and undo many years of family tradition.

Cost-cutting Watford Borough Council is offloading its five tax-payer funded community centres to third party groups in a bid to save money.

The Meriden Community Centre, in Garsmouth Way, will be run by the Watford FC Community Sports & Education Trust, which promotes the academic, sporting and social development of young people.

A growing number of residents, however, have expressed alarm about the impact of the plans – particularly the closure of the centre’s bar – on the wider community; on families and the elderly.

Tracy Spurling, who has helped to organise a 300 signature petition against the scheme, said: “There is nowhere else for anybody to go – for families and for people like that. The old folk like to go down there to play bingo and cards and have a drink. “Where are the darts team and pool team going to play in the future when there is no bar?

“The recession has taken its toll but the centre is still at the heart of the community. I’ve got two young kids myself and always go down there on a weekend – it’s a place for families to meet and children to play together.

“There is a pub down the road but not everyone will want to go there. We are worried about the impact of this.”

The petition, which has been passed around shops and businesses on the estate, also criticises the level of public consultation about the plans.

Mayor Dorothy Thornhill, however, said the council, which has seen its government grant slashed, had a simple choice to make.

“The question is, do people want the community centre to survive or not. They should be jumping up and down with joy that their community is going to have an extremely well refurbished centre.

“It is important people realise that the trust and football club are different things. This is not for young footballers it is for everybody.

“The only thing that is changing is that there won’t be subsidised drinking on the taxpayer.”