As an ex-serviceman and woman, Mr Beasley a Vietnam Veteran and Ms Greaves a World War Two Women's Royal Air Force Veteran, the pair said the demolition of the city's RSL building would take with it memories most civilians wouldn't understand.

"A lot of people don't realise what (the building) means to us ex-servicemen, it was more camaraderie and mateship than people understand," Mr Beasley said.

"All of us had the same experience, the unfortunate experience of going to war, and we have the same way of talking to each other.

"We've all always been there for each other and we knew if we were here (at the RSL) we could go up to each other and get straight into conversation in a way we just couldn't with other people."

Ms Greaves said having been a member of the sub-branch for 54 years, she remembered when the RSL was at the site where BCF now stood, and the memory of a big green building at the current site before it was burnt down and reburbished to what stands there today.

"There will be a lot of ghosts left around here of some great people that are worth remembering," she said.

"This building is very dear to us and we have memories in here from times like the '60s when there was a beautiful big dance floor inside and the RSL was the place to go, if you weren't here early you weren't in."

Mr Beasley said old RSL members such as Darcy Prosser would always be remembered vividly, standing tall at the door of the building every Friday night dressed sharp as a tack with his suit jacket and tie, and old vets such as Eric Eggmolesse and Arthur Dennis who were the larrikins of their time.

"Back in those days we had 40,000 people in town, and now it's dwindled to 17,000 or something like that," he said.

"It was a league of nations back in that day, that's for sure.

RSL sub-branch president Les Bunn said yesterday was more of just the ceremony of handing over the keys.

"But we're losing a lot of history behind these doors," he said.