Threefold rent hike forces Truscott Arms closure
The Truscott Arms gastropub in London's Maida Vale has been forced to close after the operators lost their battle to stop a threefold increase in the rent.
Andrew and Mary-Jane Fishwick announced the move today following the conclusion of their legal struggle with a private, Gibraltar-based landlord to stop the rent rise going ahead.
The rent has now increased from £75,000 a year to £250,000 a year.
The Fishwicks said that this, combined with the fact that they have incurred backdated rent of £330,000, made their business "untenable". The Truscott Cellar in London's Haverstock Hill is also thought to have closed as a result of the situation.
In a statement, they said: "We are incredibly proud of all that the Truscott Arms means. Not just because we created an exceptional, award-winning pub, but because we built a meaningful hub in our community. A hub that was run with passion by a loyal, dedicated team for all of our guests.
"It is with exceptional, profound devastation that we are closing the doors. We love this place, we love its soul and all of you who have contributed to it.
"We are exploring new projects and new sites and we will continue to work hard to promote this important industry and care about the issues faced, so that British public houses are protected."
They opened the Truscott Arms in 2013 in a four-story Victorian corner pub, with a former Galvin at Windows chef, Etienne Bruwer, heading up the kitchen. More recently, chef Aidan McGee headed up the kitchen.
The pub marked a new start for Andrew Fishwick, who was jailed in 2010 for tax evasion for 20 months while working as a theatre producer, after he made a series of dishonest Gift Aid repayment claims to help pay for struggling stage productions.
The pub won several awards, including the Sustainable Restaurant Association's (SRA) Sustainable Pub of the Year and Best British Roast Dinner pub 2014 in a guide by Unilever Food Solutions. This year, Andrew Fishwick was also shortlisted in the BII's Licensee of the Year Awards.
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