Golfers to give women the vote

Male golfers at a club frequented by the Duke of Kent have been given a stark choice – abandon their sexist traditions or lose the right to imbibe alcohol at the 19th hole.

Magistrates have told the Royal West Norfolk Golf Club that its drink licence will not be renewed until it drags itself into the 21st century by granting female members voting rights.

Major Nigel Carrington Smith, the club's secretary, was certain an extraordinary general meeting of members would decide the opportunity to drink was worth keeping. "I am sure the members will vote to amend the rules.

"We have no option anyway, it is the law and we will abide by that. There is nothing peculiar about it. Every golf club has to do the same," he said.

Major Carrington Smith appeared confident that the female golfers, who make up about a fifth of the Royal West Norfolk's 740 members, would not use the change as an excuse to destroy tradition.

"I doubt the women will bother to vote. They are very happy with the way the club is run," he said.

The magistrates might have felt that they would have been breaking the European Convention on Human Rights by licensing a discriminatory club, the Equal Opportunities Commission said.