Popular Peterborough community pub just 'weeks' from closure as dispute continues

Popular Peterborough pub The Ploughman, located at the Werrington Centre, could close for good in just a matter of weeks.

That is the grim forecast of leaseholder Andy Simmonds, who has run the pub for the last 15 years.

The pub has faced an uncertain future for several months but ahead of an impending court date over an unpaid service charge of £72,000 (for the last four and a half years)- as well as several countersuits, Andy has said that he fears that the pub’s day are numbered.

After suffering a heart attack earlier this year, Andy had said that he is more inclined that ever to walk away from the issues that he has been fighting the centre’s landlords- Tesco and Melbourne Holdings over the past several years.

He said: “What is the service charge they want me and the rest of the business owners in the centre to pay for?

“There is a massive problem here, the state of the centre is shocking and I think unsafe.

“There are loose hanging wires, slippery paving stones which were designed to go under a canopy that has now been removed, there are stones sticking out on walls, very few of the lights work and there is a large pothole that hasn’t been fixed for over a year, which a lady unfortunately fell and injured herself on recently.

"People deserve better.”

Andy has also said that he has been left frustrated with his dealings with the building’s owners.

This included, as he claims, spending months negotiating a price to buy the pub- including getting four different valuations- in a process which cost him around £37,000 in November to then be told in January that The Ploughman was no longer for sale.

He also claims that he requested that a broken roof tile was replaced, only for the tradesperson to arrive to complete the work and put a bin bag around the tile before returning it to its place. That tile can still be seen on the roof today.

The pub is also without a heating system after the system had to be condemned due to its age blocking an engineer from fully being able to evaluate it.

As a result, Andy has said that he had had to install inverter heat pumps after receiving no help from the centre’s owners.

The pub itself celebrated its 40th birthday recently and has won a host of awards over the years, including the Campaign For Real Ale (CAMRA) Pub of the Year in 2011 and 2014.

It has also raised thousands of pounds for charity with the hosting of events such as it charity beer festival, with Heltwate School being the beneficiaries.

The local darts, chess and dominoes team at the pub have already been forced to move on.

Andy added: “I really fear for the future of the centre without the pub.

"Losing the pub would rip the heart out of the community, it is a real asset of community value. It is a hub for Werrington and all of the work would be destroyed.

"It would also leave an empty and ageing building within in the Werrington Centre, when there are already so many problems with anti-social behaviour.”