‘Forced out’ bar owners set for a return to town

THE owners of a bar who say they were forced out of their previous building are to return to Coalville.

Buddies Bar left its premises in Belvoir Road in November to make way for a new council customer contact centre.

The move led to a backlash from customers, with public petitions calling for Buddies’ ousting to be overturned.

Despite gaining thousands of signatures, Buddies closed. However, the owners have revealed they are set to return – months after vowing they will be back in Coalville.

A licensing application for Buddies to move into premises in Hotel Street, pictured, was submitted to North West Leicestershire District Council last week.

The application, if granted, would see Buddies relaunched as Buddies Lounge, with its opening hours from 10am to 11pm, Monday to Saturdays, and 10am until 10.30pm on

COUNCIL CENTRE

Sundays. It has also applied to open from 10am to midnight on Christmas Eve and bank holidays and 10am to 12.30pm on New Year’s Eve.

In a statement, Buddies bosses said: “We said we would never give up on Coalville and we haven’t. “Due to open in the next few weeks is Buddies Lounge, with over 800sq ft of space to relax and enjoy a great variety of drinks and cocktails. We look forward to seeing you all soon.”

Speaking at a meeting in November, council leader Richard Blunt admitted Buddies being served notice on its lease to make way for the new council centre had done “untold damage” to the authority’s reputation, but the decision was made by its landlord Gylo and not the council itself.

He said: “Of course, we as a council should always back and support new businesses coming into the town but I cannot tell the owners of the Belvoir Centre what they can and cannot do.

“This is a case of a landlord and its tenant. We did not know it was going to come to this until it happened.”

BUDDIES CLOSED TO MAKE WAY FOR

We said we would never give up on Coalville and we haven’t

Buddies’ owners