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

learning_to_drive

Any updates?

downhillfast

Nothing much to update you on really.... same old same old... bills.... letters from the bank... letter from local council saying they've set the bailliffs on me over my overdue council tax... general misery... and a very hormonal gf!

Have contacted Payplan today... and am reading through their email help pack thingy... just need to find some time to act of the advice - my major problem with not being able to afford much in the way of staffing.

I'm just looking forward to having a proper night off on Christmas. :j

pusscat

Hello Downhill - Just wanted to know how things were with you?

Hope Xmas and the New Year have left you feeling a lot more positive?

Have you had a chance to get on top of your figures yet?

Puss

downhillfast

Nothing much to update you on but just thought I'd say "Hi" and have a bit of a blog!

Still struggling bigtime. Currently wondering how on earth I will ever pay off my debts... if I was to just throw in the towel and surrender the lease I would walk out with just 70% of the value of the fixtures and fittings.... nothing else.... and believe me that figure wouldn't come close to covering the debt I have. Off the top of my head I reckon I would still be £50k in the red.

Current approx debt:

Business Loan £40k
Personal Loans from banks £14k
Personal Overdraft £3.5k
Loans from family £9k
Credit Card £1.5k
Elec Bill £3k
VAT still outstanding £800 another return due end of Feb
Other small bills £1k

Am now on "cash with order" for my stock - just what I need! Have had to use my personal credit card for the last 2 weeks to buffer the shortfall in the cash that I don't have! My card transaction sales now go straight into the business account that is overdrawn - the account it used to go into is now closed thanks to Lloyds... so anything that is purchased by card now gets swallowed up in the overdrawn account. At least the drip feed will sort the overdraft out - but in the meantime I'm pretty much reaching a shortfall weekly and having to deal in cash and my personal credit card to avoid it all being swallowed up!

My mum is offering to sell her house and move in! Not an option. Like I told her, I don't want us both going bankrupt, and this place is just a money pit.


So here I am, unsure of what my best option is. Bearing in mind I have nothing but mounting debts, so improving the business and turning it around is unlikely with NO BUDGET... just what can you do for nothing to entice people to spend their money??? And even if say one night a week was packed out with a new money spinning event.... just how significant would that extra few hundred pounds T/O a week actually be regarding digging me out of debt? Not very, me thinks. This place needs to be packed out every night to do that!

I want out of this... but I'm too stubborn to give up everything I've ever worked for.... I sold my house (releasing £50k equity) to buy this place and all I can see is that I'll end up in a dead end job paying this debt off for the rest of my life? My previous career was very specialised and is now almost impossible to get a job in at the right price for the location and having to move to London.

I guess if I came out with a clean slate I would be happier than still having a millstone around my neck but how would bankruptcy actually work for me - surely I would still be paying some huge amount off for many years?

Quick thought - my current debt is actually more than I had as a mortgage on my house!!! Fan-bloody-tastic!

Any ideas?

What do youo all think you would do in this position?

downhillfast

Just thought I'd add a couple of other rants!


Having had a surf around here again.... and checking out a few leads... I've come to the conclusion that makes me think I must be from another planet or something!

Even though I work every hour God sends for zero wage.... I don't qualify for the following because my partner of only 7 months lives here as "my partner" although we have no financial connections whatsoever...

Council Tax Credit
Working Tax Credit
Single person discount (obviously, and accepted!)
and any other benefit you could think of no doubt!


If she "rented a room from me" things would be much different no doubt - even with the "income" from the letting!

I've never claimed a single penny in benefit (even when I was unemployed for 6 months) and now I'm in a desperate state of brokeness, I don't qualify for anything because I am in a physical relationship!

This life is utter madness

h4nym

DHF

First of all, a real "sorry to read of your predicament" - genuinely!

Now - peak times - early evening - and you're not down in the bar being cheerful and welcoming!

You only have the one asset left, matey! And you're going to have to get your act together if you're to be able to realise it - sort your accounts out and get the pub on the market! THIS WEEK!!!

Someone will want it! But you're going to have to be positive! Take Pusscat's advice - work out where the money's coming from and where it's going to. That will also mean that you get your accounts sorted out! Only then will you have the information that you need - either to run the place or to sell the place. But that's what accounts are - information! You've been running the business on gut feel and instinct so far - and you don't have the experience in the business to be able to rely on either - what you need is solid information - and it's all in that pile of invoices and till receipts that you keep looking at and putting off.

What line of business were you in before?

H

kittyminx

Can you re-assign your lease?

the_blues

Hi
I am also in the licensed trade (20 years) and know what you are going through, fortunately I got out of the tied/brewery set up. I am also a stocktaker in the trade and I was interested in yours GP's. 50% does sound low, are you subsdising the prices you are selling at, what is your wastage/ullage per month. Important do you have a regular stocktake? Do you have a range of keg/draught beers or just minimal? (The more you have the greater the wastage/ullage). There is probably room to manouevre say 5% on the GP of the food also. What is the % of staff costs (not yours) against income?

If you can get back to me with some of the above info I will see if there is any suggestions I can offer

All the best
the blues

joeblack066

Hi, I can't offer much help here but I CAN offer my empathy....I was due to buy the lease on a pub with my partner in July '06. but found out in June that he was a lying, cheating **@@@**!!@!!!. Went to see the Owners re buying on my own, they agreed, but then I went into a bit of a breakdown and didn't go ahead with it.
However, what I can offer is what I had on my original business plan that convinced a bank to lend me the dosh! My major coup was to offer "School Days" dinner parties, 1 set price, £18 per head, 25 seater restaurant, 2 course meal on offer, and the main criteria was that the Punter had to fill the restaurant, ie get 25 people in! I advertised a lot and had many bookings.......the meals were simple traditional fare, small menu choice, ie liver and onions, sausage and mash etc, with Spotted !!!!!! or Cornflake Tart for dessert (unlimited second helpings offered, don't worry, they're always too stuffed to take it but it sells well!), but the beauty is, the Host is kinda doing a Dinner Party, without the expense or the trouble! And 25 x £18 is £450, less the cost of your cook, say £6.50 p/h for 4 hrs and a coupla waiting on staff in 'uniform' at £5.35 p/h, say £100 inc N/I conts, £100 for raw materials and you're making £250 every time you do it, plus your bar take, with staff that you would have on anyway. Build your reputation on giving a helluva good night and the bookings will outweigh the neighbourhood prejudice, and you are makin some dosh! If I coulda taken the pub on my own I would have done it..........just an idea! Debs.

joeblack066

Oh, and the other ideas that I had..........Parent and toddler groups in the day,(get the Mum's in during the day and the Dads will be happy for them to drink there at night.........I live in a very anally retentive old fashioned area!!) free use of function room to Slimming Groups etc. on quiet nights, kids cocktails on bank holidays, pay an NNEB Student £6 p/h to run a kids' disco on an otherwise 'dead' night, get the Dads and Mums drinking in the bar, generally become a MAJOR part of the local community, so they couldn't function without you......this means attracting Dad, Mum, Granparents, kids and childminders alike. Morning coffee, chip butties, whatever it takes.
If you decide to stay, obviously. Be watchin this thread with great interest!! Debs xx