Pub may be sold over costly repairs
ACOMMUNITY pub could be sold off as there are substantial and costly repairs needed.
The Navigation on Black Road in Macclesfield, could be sold by owners Hawthorn, a community pub company who were recently bought by Admiral Taverns, as there are a number of substantial repairs needed to the building.
Landlord of two and a half years Steve Bennett said he had been discussing repairs in detail with Hawthorn before being told the pub could be sold off.
Hawthorn said ‘substantial repairs are needed at the Navigation’ – and selling it was just ‘one option’ they are considering.
Steve said the repairs needed at the pub include a new roof, which he says could cost around £35,000, repairing the windows, painting the outside of the property, putting new signs up and solving a damp issue in the toilets.
He added that he had spent thousands of pounds of his own money on some repairs, believing the pub would not be sold.
“Over the last 12 months we’ve been discussing the repairs that need doing,” Steve said.
“Since the end of the last lockdown I reupholstered all the seats at the cost of about £1,500 because I was under the impression that we were going to get all these repairs done.
“I put new windows in the trade toilet and I had new gates made for the yard. I thought I had to do something so I did it myself while we were locked down.”
Hawthorn said they had kept Steve ‘in the loop at every stage of the process’ and would recompense him for any work he had done if they end up selling the pub.
But Steve said he felt let down by the company, which owns more than 700 pubs across the country.
He said: “It’s obviously a decision which has been made higher up the chain but I wish somebody had told me they were considering selling it before I spent all this money.
“It could take weeks or it could take months to be sold.
“I can’t make any plans because I don’t know how long I’m going to be here and of course if it’s not sold as a pub then whoever buys it won’t want the fixtures and fittings so I then have to get rid of all the stuff that I’ve bought. It’s a bit of a nightmare really.”
Steve also said the uncertainty has added to a difficult year and that the pub’s potential closure would be a loss to the whole community.
“It is a community pub. There’s talk of getting a petition going, I don’t know how much use that would be,” he said. “The first thing I had to do was decorate everything before we opened and it was just beginning to build up nicely and then of course we had to close down, so it’s been stop start for the last 12 months.”
“There’s some good days and some bad days and I’m sure I’m not on my own in that with the trade being what it is at the moment – it’s difficult for everybody because people have got used to not going to the pub.”
A spokesperson for Hawthorn, the Community Pub Company, said: “We are firm believers in the importance of community pubs, however there are substantial repairs needed at the Navigation, so selling the pub as a going concern is one option we are considering.
“We have kept Steve in the loop at every stage of the process and have agreed he will be recompensed for any works he has completed should we end up selling the pub.”