THE Gaming Review Body is, of course, quite right to try to remove gambling temptations from young children.

Like tobacco and alcohol, gambling can become an addictive habit and children should not be exposed to it.

But is there any evidence that they are being exposed to it in working men's clubs?

The Gaming Review Body is recommending that clubs should no longer be allowed their three fruit machines with a top prize of £250 because it feels there is no guarantee that children do not have access to them.

Gerry Steinberg, the Durham City MP, says the recommendations have been put together by "some middle-class prat who has never been in a club". While we cannot match Mr Steinberg's colourful point of view, he clearly has a point.

Working men's clubs are not attractive to young people. The clubs do not court young people, and many club members use them to escape the flashing lights and loud music that do appear to attract young people.

Whoever has written the recommendations also appears not to know how clubs are run. Laws are usually enforced by committees which still have a frightening hold over clubs - little escapes their all-seeing eyes.

Should the committee fail to spot a problem, the community spirit of the clubs - which does still exist and which keeps a neighbourly eye on all users - is likely to come to the rescue.

If a law needs to be passed to remind clubs of their duties, so be it. But to remove such a vital source of income could be disastrous for many clubs.

It would be a shame to lose any club because, although "middle-class prats" may not acknowledge it, clubs still provide a useful social service. They are not simply about beer and turns, but about games and sports, self-improvement and - most important in our fragmented society - companionship and community.

But, because of their out-dated image, clubs are easy to pick upon. Had the Gaming Review Body chosen to tackle seaside "amusements", where children as young as three can be seen shovelling 2p pieces into slots in the hope a tacky plastic toy will fall, there would have been outrage from the chains that run them.

Mr Steinberg is to be congratulated for taking up cudgels on behalf of clubs because, as he says, it is hard to believe that young children are becoming addicted to gambling in working men's clubs.