In a statement to members CEO Andrew Terry said "the board has made the decision that it plans to cease trading as a registered club from the present Eden Recreation Club site and transfer all club trade exclusively to Eden Country Club location".

"Like a number of other businesses we're still reeling from the January/February bushfires that gave us a 40 per cent downturn and then we went straight into the coronavirus.

"We're $1.5m down on revenue and still trying to make an assessment on whether we can continue to trade at all," Mr Terry said.

He said the proposed easing of restrictions on Friday, May 15 in NSW would make no difference given that opening for 10 people wasn't economically viable.

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"I don't know of a business operating that could open for 10 people. You'd have to be extremely cashed up. Even at stage 3 with 100 patrons, the cost of trying to police and monitor it would be too difficult," he said.

The Imlay St site had been under discussion prior to the bushfires and in 2019, the club had investigated development options at the site. But with no significant interest, the club planned to put the idea of listing the site for sale, to the membership.

"We are in discussion with the Liquor and Gaming Authority about transferring a number of (gaming) licences (from Eden Fishermen's Club to the Country Club."

Mr Terry says the club is "parking" its membership of Clubs NSW which carried "enormous costs" but says it is something that is reversible.

"We've been knocked back on every tier of government assistance and this is the only way of keeping the club alive."

Mr Terry said the club had been rejected on bushfire assistance, including a low interest loan loan.

"We were so badly affected by the bushfires, we were assessed as not being able to service the loan but we're not alone in that," he said.

However the club did get 32 employees onto the JobKeeper allowance, 15 of which are now back at work.

The Imlay St venue will close as a registered club and would be available as "a civic centre" for functions and entertainment with community driven demand, Mr Terry said.

In the meantime at the Country Club, work is due to start soon on a joint venue development that will ultimately see 116 town houses built as part of a seniors retirement development and a further 16 Torrens house and land packages released.

The Eden Gardens Estate joint development with Lincoln Place will mean that some funds will be released as work commences and further funds will be available as the properties are sold.

"As much as only a matter of six months or so ago, the board had identified that those future development funds would be designated largely to be reinvested in significant infrastructure upgrades, but it is almost now certain that such funding streams will be directly applied to reduce overall debt incurred as a result of the events experienced this year," Mr Terry has told members.

There are a number of unknowns in terms of confidence in the property market should the club decide it must sell the land at Imlay St, and also the prices achievable for the Eden Gardens Estate properties. There are questions too about clubs' business models after the country comes out of isolation; will takeaway home dining take a greater share of the discretionary spend and will people return to play the pokies?

"All we can do is model for the worst and hope for the best," Mr Terry said,

There is however one small glimmer of hope and that is the domestic tourism market which might just see growth but not until 2021.

"But most of us have got to get there. A lot of businesses don't know if there'll be here at the end of July, let alone the school holidays in December 2020/21," Mr Terry said.