Abandoned Buckinghamshire: Mentmore Golf & Country Club

This entry is part two of our explore of the Mentmore estate- read about our attempted explore of the mansion on the estate, Mentmore Towers, here . The long story short of Mentmore Towers is even though we got right up the building, we didn’t get in. We were able to to sneak away undetected. As we crossed Mentmore estate, I mentioned we could have a crack at Mentmore Golf Club, it wasn’t on our plan and it was very spur of the moment, but as the sun continued to rise over the frost-covered golf course, with Mentmore Towers behind us, we approached the abandoned Golf Club.

History of Mentmore Golf Club

If you are curious about the history of Mentmore Towers and the estate leading up to the estate being divided up, I recommend you read our entry about Mentmore Towers itself. In the 70s, the Mentmore estate was put up for auction by the Rothschilds family. The land was sold separately from the mansion and in 1990, Finelake LTD was established to operate a golf course on the land, although in 1991 they changed their name to Mentmore Golf and Country Club LTD.

The Mentmore Golf Club opened in 1992 according to the still active (albeit, unmonitored) website. However, on the 7th June 2015, the club shut down and all operations halted. According to Company Register, meetings and talks started as early as 2012 to file Mentore Golf and Country Club LTD for liquidation and to ‘voluntarily wind up’ the company. Shortly after these chats started, the club and course apparently started to fall into a bit of neglect.

In June 2015, Spotted Leighton Buzzard received and shared publicly an email from the director of the now closed golf club, stating that in 2012, the Halabi family stepped in and cleared all debts of the club and they even paid to restructure the club to keep it alive, however, because of rising operating costs, even with Halabi’s financial support, the club was forced to close.

Documents show that Mentmore Golf and Country Club LTD ceased to exist in January of 2016.

However, an article by golfnews.co.uk reveals in July 2015, Simon Halabi bought out the golf club and although the original company ceased to exist, Halabi set up a new company: Mentmore Golf Corporate LTD, which was created on the 1st July 2015. This company still exists today.

However, in July 2019, the High Court of Justice ordered this company to be shut down, as of the time of writing this article, it seems the process of liquidation is still ongoing.

Speculation About Mentmore Golf Club

This next section comes from third party sources, namely forums and talking with locals, it’s likely this will need to be taken with a pinch of salt.

When the course stopped all operations halfway through 2015, many people who had put down deposits for events such as weddings or even paid for memberships were left without answers. Some considered the closure a hoax because it was so sudden and no mention of it was on the main website. With Halabi stepping up as the new owner of the club, he remains elusive to contact about anything regarding Mentmore, so these poor victims never saw their money returned.

Personally, I find it suspect that Halabi would start clearing debt from the golf club for them to immediately talk about liquidation, then he buys the golf club outright. But these are all just small pieces of one very big puzzle. I also suspect Halabi may be dragging his heels when it comes to the process of closing down the golf company, but only time will tell with that one.

The last known public activity of Mentmore Golf and Country Club is on their Facebook, their profile picture changed in 2022 to show the logo of the club and they uploaded a picture of the golf course from when it had seen better days. I’m unsure if these shots were posted by Halabi or why, but the purpose behind that seems pointless.

The land the golf course was constructed on was bought by local farmer(s) in the 70s during the auction and was leased to the Golf and Country Club so they could operate without outright buying the land, the owner apparently never wanted to sell the land to Halabi because he was aware the Towers could fall into neglect. During one of my scouts of the land a local told me that the lease has recently expired (as of 2025), so, if true, it leaves open a massive question mark about what is going to happen to Mentmore Golf Club, will it be returned to agriculture, will it be kept in limbo, will a new golf company come in and bring the place back it’s glory? At this point, it’s hard to tell, but we never know what the future holds.

Exploring Mentmore Golf Club

As we approached the golf club, we kept our eyes and ears open for security, we rounded the building, trying to see a way in. A recent explore of this very building had described access as ‘very easy’, but we were dubious about that as enough time had passed to allow an ‘easy’ access to be sealed up.

Eventually, we found our entry, as we turned on our torches and headed inside, it was remarkable to see the inside of this place.

Furniture was covered in tarps, but ready to be used, sofas in the main lounge were covered in dust but ready to be placed out and ready to receive golfers as they came off the course and relaxed with a beer. The kitchens lacked the main equipment, but vital infrastructure, such as vents and pipes were still in place.

By the main entrance is the main lounge and the main reception desk, the desk was still clean, as if the receptionist had just stepped out for a minute, the rest of the building around it was weathered, but the black shiny desk with the Mentmore logo stood gleaming. Along the walls near the desk were the names of former captains and champions of Mentmore, the glass engraved with their names still hung clean and shiny on the wall, once again, a testament to how quickly this place closed that after 2015, there is nothing on the boards. Near the reception desk, a small award plaque limply lay face up, an award praising how excellent this place used to be, now a sad memory, left behind in a building destined to crumble. Yet again, another testament to how far this club has fallen.

We turned and headed into the main lounge, immediately on walking in, you are met with the large open room and bar with the impressive Mentmore logo on it, the bar and room largely intact except for some weathering damage and a few broken windows that were sealed up after explorers got in before we did. The aforementioned sofas sat in the corner, awaiting patrons that may never arrive again, the bar lay devoid of drinks and coasters, the final orders had been made nearly 10 years ago now. As Mike slipped around the back, I obviously had to ask him for two pints of lager and a packet of crisps. The main kitchen behind the bar lay dark and devoid of equipment, but surprisingly clean. We noticed a set of stair leading down underground, so we followed them down.

Down at the bottom, we found a small storage area, a small fridge where cooked and frozen food would’ve been stored, one cupboard was the wine storage with labels showing what wines would’ve been stored where, while another cupboard was still full of basic catering supplies! The end of this area was a small room where the kegs of been would’ve been connected to the bar upstairs, a few kegs still remained, abandoned in this cellar.

We moved back up and continued exploring downstairs, including the main gym, this area was badly damaged but was the only real room to suffer that level of damage. Cracked mirrors and shattered glass mixed with the fallen roof tiles on the floor, along with the occasional lifting weight. By the entrance, a pinboard still held etiquette notices, as well as contacts for local personal trainers and special offers on upcoming cardio classes. Given this club was meant to be a high level club, it made me wonder about the sort of kit that would’ve been here, how often it would’ve been used and just how popular this place was before it went bust.

We kept looking around, we made our way upstairs, at the top of the stairs, we found a small events room, tables and chairs stacked neatly, again, awaiting another event that may never come. Speakers hung off the walls and projectors hung battered. At the end of the room was a window, as we peered out of it, we saw it was overlooking a grotty looking pool back downstairs. We kept exploring upstairs.

While upstairs was comprised of a lot of offices, it also had a small workout area with one large mirror covering the wall and one small events room with a small chandelier.

We headed back down, we pushed our way through the mens premium changing room. Some of the lockers still had clothes in them. I can only imagine how annoyed you’d be to leave your belongings in a locker overnight to collect them in the morning, only to find the venue has gone bust and won’t ever open its doors again.

Once again, this area was surprisingly clean.

We emerged by the pool, once having been filled to a consistant 1.25 metres, now empty, but with a few discarded items thrown in and 10 year old stagnant water collecting at the bottom. The adjacent steam room and sauna were open and, like almost everything in this building, looked ready to be switched on and receive patrons, but no.

We finished our explore and made our way back to the entry point, climbing through and making our way back across Mentmore estate.

Between arriving, looking around outside Mentmore Towers and accessing Mentmore Golf and Country Club, we had spent 3 hour exploring the Mentmore estate. As we successfully retreated back across the golf course, passing a driving range in the meantime, we reminisced highly on our successful morning. Others had been kicked off of Mentmore Estate in less time, others had been chased by security, or even caught by police. We had gotten right up to the mansion and successfully explored the country club without setting off any alarms. It had required stealth, especially around the mansion, but as far as explores go, Mentmore delivered, even when we couldn’t access the mansion.

Can’t wait to try again…

Last Updated on 29 January 2025 by Michael