Wortwell Bell landlord, Paul Holland, wants ‘positive solution’ after standing ground on one weeks’ notice to vacate pub

A pub landlord is in a stand-off with the site’s owners after being given just a week to leave the premises.

Paul Holland, who took over The Wortwell Bell in March, was given his eviction notice by the Stonegate Group on Friday, giving the landlord until today to shut up shop, but the publican is determined to find a solution.

The company, which operates around 4,800 pubs, said the notice was for breaching agreed policies after Mr Holland purchased his beer from an external company - something the landlord said he was forced to do to keep the beer flowing at the High Road establishment.

“We are tied in to them on the cider-lager side, but they were changing over systems and I could not get any orders as their phone lines were busy all of the time,” he told the Diss Express.

“So I had no choice but to breach our contract and buy some from somewhere else and that is when I found out the prices were much lower elsewhere, so I felt I was being over charged.”

This prompted Mr Holland to call a meeting with the firm last week and request a price to buy out his contract, which would enable him to buy his alcohol from anywhere, while still paying Stonegate rent on the building.

“We offered them £40,000 on top of what we are paying to come out of the contract and, after having the property valued, also offered today’s market price to buy the building.

“The next thing I know, a couple of days later, we were told our offers had been refused and we had to leave. I was completely shocked as it was such a kick in the teeth.”

The landlord has opened the pub today and intends to over the weekend, hoping to find a solution to the stand-off.

“I just want to sit around the table with them to work something out," he said. "We love being at this pub and want to carry on serving the community.

“We have invested so much into this place. My wife and I have not taken a single penny out of this business since we started, that is how dedicated we are to the pub.

“So we are going to stand firm, trade today and we are writing an email now to get Stonegate around a table to work this out in a positive way, so the community does not lose a pub that it loves.”

A Stonegate Pub Partners spokeswoman said: “Notice was served to our tenant in line with the conditions of the temporary agreement in place and acknowledged breaches of that agreement.

"As we treat communications with our tenants as confidential, we are not in a position to comment further on this matter."