A Leeds landlord “doesn’t know where to go” with his partner and three children in a week’s time, after he was told leave by the pub group.
David Holmes, who runs The Sportsman Inn in Morley with his partner Melanie Robinson, has been “distraught” that pub group Admiral Taverns gave him notice to leave only 4 weeks ago – meaning they have to be out by Thursday, March 9.
David and Mel, 31 and 33, took over the pub 12 months ago in March, 2022, and have lived at the pub in Hunger Hill with their three children, a three-year-old and a pair of 12-year-olds. The couple were hoping to invest long-term and said they went to the pub with an offer which was initially accepted.
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The landlord has claimed his initial offer on the pub was accepted but alleges that a building developer has since bought the land. Admiral Taverns has said it’s still looking at a “range of offers”.
David, who was born in Tingley and grew up in Morley, said it was the couple’s dream to own pub in Morley. They’ve added if the Sportsman was destroyed to make way for homes, it would be a big loss for the community where they’ve added numerous events are held.
'Absolutely distraught'
David said: “We’re absolutely distraught Admiral Taverns accepted the other offer. We found out when we were on holiday and opened the email in our hotel room.
“We put our hearts and soul into the business. We thought Admiral would appreciate what we’ve done for the place.
“It’s impossible for us to move out of the property by March 9. They gave us four weeks! It feels horrible. We’ve worked on the pub for 12 months and met all these new people and we’ve done so much for the place. We’ve gotten lots of new people to come here who previously didn’t like it.
“I feel stressed and angry. I feel angry because no one is listening to us and we don’t know where to go. I’ve been trying to think of how we can save it. I wanted to try and fundraise it, to try and get an extra £100,000.”
'Taken a loss'
David has said to make matters worse, he’ll be leaving the business at a personal financial loss after he has had to make numerous repairs. He also points the finger of blame at Admiral for loss of business, as the pub group failed to repair a leaking toilet which caused a lot of customers to stop coming last year.
David said: “We’ve taken a loss. When we first took over, we were missing the gents toilet. It was leaking. So we had to have a portaloo outside and people weren’t happy about it – so people were leaving. It took Admiral Taverns four months to fix the toilet.
“Plus, we’ve had a leaking roof over the ladies toilet since September. It was going to take £14,000 to fix it but they weren’t going to pay for it. I even made an offer that if we can keep the pub then I’ll get the roof fixed.”
But Admiral Tavern says it’s still considering a “range of offers”.
A spokesperson for the pub group said: “At Admiral we are strong believers in the importance of community pubs and our focus is always on helping our tenants to run sustainable pub businesses.
“In the case of the Sportsman Inn, we have received a range of offers for the pub, but discussions are too early to comment at this stage.”
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