MAIDENHEAD Golf Club is “very disappointed” that its bid to buy a nearby golf course was rejected, the chairman said.

Earlier this week, the owners of the Winter Hill Golf Club, the John Lewis Partnership, announced it was selling the site in Grange Lane, Cookham to Safegolf Ltd – which will allow specialist golf charity Get Golfing to run the club under a long-term lease.

MGC was in “advanced talks” with the John Lewis Partnership to acquire the site for some time, but the owners later decided to put Winter Hill on the open market for sealed bids. 

READ MORE: Maidenhead Golf Club's bid to buy Winter Hill rejected

MGC was looking to buy the site in order to move its operations from its current site on Shoppenhangers Road as the land is earmarked for up to 1,800 homes.

The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead bought the lease of the 132-acre golf course for about £16m to facilitate the large development.

Golf club members voted overwhelmingly last week to pursue the acquisition of Winter Hill after they were told repeatedly that this was MGC’s “last chance for survival” and that there is “no plan B”.

READ MORE: Maidenhead Golf Club has 'last chance for survival'

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, MGC chairman, Paul Louden, didn’t want to comment too much on the rejection of their bid.

He said: “We’re very disappointed. We worked for the last two and half years with the John Lewis Partnership after they came to us. That’s why we’re rather disappointed by it all.

“However, we are where we are, and we will try and move on and see what’s next available to us.”

He added “more exciting things to come in the near future” after next month’s local election.