Sources say the trust that owns the building and business has gone into voluntary liquidation.
The chairman of the United Services and Community Club Trust Paul Chamberlain declined to comment yesterday, but Dunedin RSA president Alan Goding said he did not want people to be alarmed by the closure, which he did not believe was necessarily permanent.
The Prince Albert Rd building houses a bar and meeting rooms used by various returned and services' associations and the general public.
Mr Goding said he could not go into the details, but a legal process had to be followed, and the closure was related to the start of that process.
"What I will say is that this closure was forced upon us by members not using the club's facilities. The message was out there long enough, and it was `use it, or lose it'."
At this stage, the situation was still very much one of "watch this space", he said.
Patrons who regularly used the facilities said yesterday they had no idea what was going on.
Ex-navalmen's association member Neville Rusbatch said all seemed normal when he went to the bar on Tuesday for a jug with his mates, as he had done almost every day for the past 20 years.
When he arrived yesterday, he was surprised to find the doors locked, with no further explanation.
"There's a group of us, we always sit in the same corner.
Now we're totally in the dark. I hope it is just for a little while."
He and other members had done a lot of work on the building in the past to keep it going, and it would be sad if this was the end, he said.
Another member said he "wasn't too happy" to find the bar closed. It would have been good if members had been advised about the closure, he said.
A permanent closure would be saddest for the few veterans in their 80s and 90s who still went to the club a few times a week for some company and a chat.
"That makes them happy, and we don't want to lose that link with those people. They are the real veterans."
Other people connected with service associations said they were aware the club was having trading and cashflow issues.
One said it was symptomatic of similar organisations across the country, as members became older and no longer wanted to go out in the evening.
