The 187-year-old Galway Mechanics Institute has warned it may have to close its doors for good — after it was slapped with an €11,000 commercial rates bill.

The committee of the institute, founded in 1838, has warned City Hall that its rates’ liability was “unmanageable”.

It has appealed to Galway City Council management — including Chief Executive Leonard Cleary and Arts Officer Ruth Mulhern — to give the Institute an exemption that is permitted by law.

Founded in 1838, the social club has been located on Middle Street since the late 19th Century.

It was part of a movement started in Glasgow to educate young people how to use machinery during the Industrial Revolution.

There are Institutes all over the World, including Australia and New Zealand, and they provided the first free libraries.

Ireland had three Institutes, but Galway is the last remaining one in this country. Its dance floor hosted annual balls — a social highlight in the 1920s and 1930s.

It used to be male-only but accepted women members just over a decade ago.

Its membership has been hit by Covid-19, a fall-off in the number of permanent residents living in the city centre, as well as societal changes, but it currently has about 50 members.

The building on Middle Street has a bar licence but it is not commercially run and only opens for events or for groups using the premises.

A whole host of groups have used the Institute including The Black Gate, Augustinian Church Choir, Galway Ukelele Group, Galway Connacht Rangers Association, as well as a local group for deaf people, Galway Cartoon Festival and University of Galway.

It functions as a social club for members who play snooker, cards, and darts there.

“The commercial rates the club are being asked to pay will mean that the club can no longer exist in a year or two,” warned Nuala Nolan, a former City Councillor and current committee member of Galway Mechanics Institute.

Ms Nolan, in her letter to Council management, seen by the Galway City Tribune, said the club was not a registered charity. She said its members paid subscriptions, which covered the cost of heating, lighting, and repairs.

“This is a listed building and part of Galway’s history, established before the Free State,” she said.

A community space for groups and hosting of events would be lost to Galway, “without a reduction in the present rates”, warned Ms Nolan.

Legislation allows for exemptions from commercial rates on a range of buildings including those used for arts, culture, and community and for organisations that are not making private profit.

In her letter to management, Ms Nolan added the Institute believed it “satisfies this exemption.