Chesterfield pub shuts down owing creditors £180,000

The pub, which opened in 2016, shut suddenly earlier this year with liquidators appointed and Sterling Advisory taking charge of the winding up process. They said the pub had seen a lack of turnover following the pandemic as well as a ‘significant rent increase’.

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Emily Bell, the appointed liquidator, said: “The Company has failed due to a lack of turnover coming out of covid. This was coupled with a significant rent increase, which left the Company making ongoing losses and unable to continue to trade.”

In a statement of affairs issued by liquidators it was revealed that The Rectory owed 20 creditors a total of £180,860.71.

Of that they owe £51,289 to the Exeter Arms – a pub in Derby owned by Martin Bruce Roper, the same man who owned The Rectory – £43,592 to Barclays Bank and £43,461 to The Crossing Burton – another pub owned by Mr Roper.

In the company’s last full accounts, published in March 2022, they said they employed an average number of 23 employees at any time during the year.

The pub was well-received with an average rating of 4.3/5 after 744 reviews on Google and a TripAdvisor score of 4.0 after 193 reviews.

Shortly before closing, The Rectory was ordered to pay more than £20,000 to a former employee, Miss E Fletcher, who had claimed unfair dismissal surrounding maternity leave.

Midlands East Employment Tribunal awarded the claimant £20,681.000 though Emily Bell said this had ‘no relevance’ to the liquidation and added: “Had the company not been entering liquidation, the directors advised that the claim would have been rigorously defended.”

At the employment tribunal, Judge Hutchinson said the claimant had been unfairly dismissed, and he ordered the respondent to pay a basic award of £491, a compensatory award of £190.00. The judge also said Miss Fletcher had been discriminated against and the respondent was ordered to pay her compensation in the sum of £20,000.