The Club's closure 'cost taxpayers more than £100k'

A venue's sudden closure may have cost taxpayers more than £100,000.

Owned by Gloucester City Council, The Club at Tuffley Park closed in July 2023, with weddings and other functions cancelled.

It has now been said that The Club was £43,388.15 in rent arrears and had cost the authority £60,000 in lost revenue from electricity bills.

The former landlord has branded the figures "a complete fabrication".

Ross Nicholl said the venue had been hit by the cost of living crisis, increase in energy bills, rent charges and the minimum wage increase, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Benjamin Baker, a member of the public, asked how much public money had been lost with the Club at Tuffley fiasco at a council meeting on Thursday, and how the authority plans to recover the money.

Cabinet Member for performance and resources, Conservative Hannah Norman, said rent arrears had reached £43,388.15 at the time of the club closing.

"Covid legislation meant we were unable to take action on rent arrears for some time and we explored all avenues available to us throughout," Ms Norman said, adding that the council was waiting for the liquidation process to take place so the money could be recovered.

During the same meeting, Independent councillor Alastair Chambers said it also cost the authority £60,000 in lost revenue from electricity bills.

He asked the chairman of the overview and scrutiny committee to investigate the issue as it amounted to a large amount of money "lost through incompetent leadership" at the city council.

Liberal Democrat Chairman Sebastian Field said he was happy to speak to the cabinet member and get more information on the issue.

If it was something the committee felt the need to scrutinise they would do so, he added.

Follow BBC West on X, Facebook and Instagram. Send any story ideas to [email protected]