'Angry' ex-Leeds landlord fumes pub price 'driven up to kill community sale'

An ‘angry and frustrated’ ex-pub landlord has accused the building owners of driving the pub’s price up as a cynical ploy to put it on the open-market for more money - rather than sell it to the community, all the while it sits derelict.

David Holmes, 32, believes the building owner of The Sportsman Inn, in Hunger Hill, Morley, Admiral Taverns has raised its asking price in order to run-down a six-month time frame the community has to exclusively purchase the premises.

Admiral Taverns has said the pub is at market value and reaffirmed its position the firm is a 'strong believer in the importance of community pubs'. David claims Admiral Taverns is asking his community group to pay £375,000 (plus VAT) for the pub, even though an independent survey valued it at £200,000.

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David ran the pub with his partner Melanie Robinson for two years, until they were abruptly told to leave by Admiral Taverns in March last year. Ever since, the pair have made it their mission to reopen the premises as a community pub.

After forming a community group, they applied for The Sportsman Inn to become a community asset in late November and this was granted. It means the premises can only be used as a pub for the next five years, and after a community right-to-bid was set, an exclusive six-month window opened for a community group to purchase the premises.

This window is due to end on June 6, according to David. He said: “It makes me angry as I really wanted to work with them and not against them. Then come up with a resolution to reopen as a community pub.

“It’s frustrating because they’ve put the price up and they advertise themselves as being all for community pubs – and we’ve made the pub a community asset so they should support us. We should try to work together to get the pub reopened.

“They’ve put the price up, the original price was £275,000, plus VAT, and they’ve put £100,000 onto that price. I think they think they might get more money on the open market, than they would from us.”

David and Mel had been passionate about the pub prior to its closure, having previously agreed with Admiral Taverns to purchase it for £275,000, plus VAT, bringing it to £330,000, back in 2022.

David said Admiral Taverns is now asking £375,000, plus VAT, even though an independent survey valued the pub at £200,000 in March. David adds the survey has determined the pub is a worse state than it was when he and Mel made the initial offer to purchase it, due to lying derelict for more than a year. The 32-year-old hopes his group can get approval for a £250,000 government grant, in the meantime. They are yet to make a formal offer.

A spokesperson for Admiral Taverns said: “We are strong believers in the importance of community pubs and our focus is always on helping our licensees to run sustainable pub businesses. After careful consideration however, we felt in this instance that the Sportsman Inn did not have a long-term sustainable future and therefore we took the decision to close the pub and put it up for sale.

"We have provided full access to the local community group who is interested in purchasing the site, but have not received any offers to date. The pub, which is priced at the market value, is currently within its Asset of Community Value period and will be added to the wider market after this has finished if no offers have been agreed.”

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