In 18 months I've gone from solvent to almost broke - need major HELP!

downhillfast

chriswuk wrote:

I know this isn't exactly 100% legal, but it's not as if your doing something really naughty......

Why not get a 90cm Sat dish set up, pointing at 13E hotbird. An Art Sports card will cost you around £80 for a 12month sub, and you can get all the Sat 3pm matches on (with English Sky sports commentry). That will sure to pull in the punters........

Thanks for the advice - have already got it! It doesn't really attract much extra custom at all though really... it just highlights what a rip off bonafide SKY is!

A lottery win would be nice but I don't even have a £1 in my pocket to buy a ticket!

Plan B - a miracle!

pusscat

Hi there DHF

Sorry not to have got back sooner, but I was away for the weekend and was having technology problems yesterday!

Seems like you have reached a point where a decision has to be made. If you continue along the same lines you are currently going, my guess (from your info) is that the decisions about the pub will be taken out of your hands fairly soon (by your creditors etc)

Best advice I can give is that you need to decide 3 things NOW (and in this order)

1) Do you want to continue in the pub?

If the current situation is affecting your health, loved ones or sanity badly then you need to get out. It is only money at the end of the day, the other things are the ones that reallly matter. If you decide not to continue then you can drive out the best way forward - selling, winding up, or just handing the keys back. If you are happy that you want to continue then you need to....

2) Work out if the pub can be saved.

This is different to wanting to save it. The only way to sort this out is to get on top of the books, once and for all. Then you can work out if you have a business that has a chance of being saved. It sounds like the crunch point has been reached (or is pretty close) so closing the pub for a few days to get on top of the books will probably not matter too much in the grand scheme of things.
Once you have done this, you either decide, no, the business cannot be saved and you set about winding up, or you decide yes it can and you sort out a rescue plan. If you decide to wind up then you can do it on your terms and in your timescales (to a point!). This is far easier to deal with than being forced into things by other parties.

3) If you decide you can save the pub and that you want to, you then need to ask "whoever" to help you fund the rescue plan. This could be the bank, friends, utility companies etc. Obviously the "other parties" do not have to help you - however, you have far more chance of gettting them to agree if you can show that you fully understand the problems and also fully understand the solutions.

The trick to making the whole process as "pain free" as posible is for YOU to take the decisions, if you don't take the decisions, then they will be taken on your behalf by someone else. If you can take the appropriate decisions and then see them through, you will feel far more in control than if events just sweep you along.

Sorry that things are not feeling so good for you right now

Puss

Richard_S

OneSpike wrote:

These are just a few thoughts off the top of my head. I'm doubly worried to read your post as friends of mine are taking over a local pub any day now, and they'll be the third set of tenants in a year, so I'm really bothered they might be in for problems. On the other hand it's a great excuse to go to the pub!

Keep posting...

Hi Spike,

That was a really helpful reply, you're definitely an ideas guy.

Think you're right to have reservations about the pub trade, our daughter works at a local pub and the brewery is already on their third tennant. I think a large percentage of their profits come from enticing couples into the trade that have got money to invest from an inheritance of redundancy, if the pub does well they raise the rent through the roof, if it does badly they bankrupt the poor b****y tennant.

See Mike St Helen's threads, he's a viction of the brewery shylocks.

Regards

Richard

downhillfast

UPDATE

That b****y postman turned up again this morning! A lovely Christmas card from my mum.... and a letter from the bank saying they're giving me a month's notice for closure of my business bank account :mad: The scary thing is that this account is in better health than the other one with a different bank! As it stands, the account has a balance... they are closing it because I "continue to operate it in a manner that is unacceptable to the bank"??? Yes I have incurred charges due to bouncing DDs a few times... but had it not been for their charges some things would have not been returned! Defo need to get onto claiming them back...

So ontop of all my other carp I now need to change accounts and set up a new credit card machine as the one I have at the mo is linked to lloyds and gets paid straight into that account! Fantastic - not!

Bah b****y humbug!

rog2

downhillfast wrote:

UPDATE

That b****y postman turned up again this morning! A lovely Christmas card from my mum.... and a letter from the bank saying they're giving me a month's notice for closure of my business bank account :mad: The scary thing is that this account is in better health than the other one with a different bank! As it stands, the account has a balance... they are closing it because I "continue to operate it in a manner that is unacceptable to the bank"??? Yes I have incurred charges due to bouncing DDs a few times... but had it not been for their charges some things would have not been returned! Defo need to get onto claiming them back...

So ontop of all my other carp I now need to change accounts and set up a new credit card machine as the one I have at the mo is linked to lloyds and gets paid straight into that account! Fantastic - not!

Bah b****y humbug!

Start claiming back ALL penalty charges, now, and reduce the balance to £1.00.
Then open another business account with a different bank.

downhillfast

Luckily I already have a second bank account, but it's about £1500 overdrawn so any money going into it now is gonna get swallowed up!

Have been looking on the payplan website... with my situation would they deal with all of my debts as a whole or would it be split between personal and business debts? Cos even just guestimating what I "earn" (laugh) a month is nigh on impossible - I take a bit when I can.... and then put it back when I have to to bail out the business account again!

Bestthingsinlifearefree

Hi DHF,

Welcome to MSE, you are in the right place.

Another poster / member Mike St Helen has experienced a similar situation. I
have PM him to ask him to have a look at your thread.

He posts on this thread about his experience.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=273844

Also this was his opening thread / post a long time ago.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=212904


Stay as positive as you can :beer:

Best,

OneSpike

Richard_S wrote:

Hi Spike,

That was a really helpful reply, you're definitely an ideas guy.

Well thank-you, but I'm actually an ideas girl :female: Always full of them when it's not me looking for inspiration. I was chatting to my friend about the previous tenants but she was hazy on why the first set left, although she knew the second set left after no time at all due to a death in the family. We'll see, she's fizzing with ideas but was absolutely shattered when I saw her today - she's a teacher by day so poor woman is worn out just now. I plan to go and support her enterprise over the holidays :beer:

learning_to_drive

Downhill, sorry to hear of the problems, If you PM me, I have a book that is titled "success in the pub trade" I won it in a competition some time ago, its a decent enough book, it may help you in some way, if you would like me to send it on to you I will do.

PM me if you want it, it might have something for you in it, Ill send it via post!

Mike_St_Helens

Hi there,

As you can see from the time.. its late and ive only just got in from work. Ive had a good read and will reply in the morning.

Sleep well.

Mike