BOWLERS say they are having to leave the green where they have played for decades to make way for York’s big wheel.

The flat green lies very close to the site behind the Museum Gardens, where York Museums Trust and wheel operators Great City Attractions want to site the 53-metre structure.

Tony Reed, president of Minster Bowling Club, said the club and two others, Minster Vets and Burton Stone Lane CIU, which played on the green every summer, had been told they could not return there this year.

He said about 60 bowlers in total were affected.

“We have about 26 members, and Burton Stone have about 26, and there are about a dozen in the Vets,” he said.

“People are very disgruntled.”

He said his club had been told it could play instead at alternative greens, such as one in Clarence Gardens and another in Rowntree Park.

However, Rowntree Park was on the other side of the city centre and very inconvenient for a majority of members, many of whom lived at the Clifton end of York.

Committee members had also examined the green and concluded it was currently “not fit for purpose”.

A Trust spokesman said through working with Great City Attractions, it had been given the opportunity to transform an unknown and derelict corner of York into a “fantastic new public space”.

He said if permission was granted, the wheel would operate for a maximum of three years.

It would give thousands of people the chance to see spectacular views of the city.

“Unfortunately these plans mean that there will not be space for the bowling green which makes up part of this area,” he said.

“We had a meeting with the bowlers to tell them of our plans to extend the gardens two years ago and they understand the reason behind the proposals. We believe they have found a new green.”

He said once the wheel had gone, the space would be fully integrated into the Museum Gardens for the public to enjoy, with new pathways linking the area to Exhibition Square, and new gardens and an open gallery exhibiting, for example, sculpture.