Failed canalside community pub to re-open with new tenants

The Barge Inn at Honeystreet. Picture by Bob Naylor: WaterMarx©

The Barge Inn at Honeystreet on the Kennet & Avon Canal that had been run by the Barge Inn Community Project since August 2010 using a hand-out of £430,000 from the Big Lottery Fund suddenly shut its doors and sacked all its staff recently following successive years of trading losses.

Their Chairman, John Brewin admitted to the local paper that they had not registered for VAT saying: "We did try to register for VAT but we had the most awful problems." He did not deny rumours that the VAT debt was more than £100,000.  

The pub's owner, Ian McIver, says that new tenants have been appointed and the pub will re-open its doors on Friday December 14th.

Read: Canalside Community pub calls last orders