Directors ‘devastated’ at closure of wedding venue outside Eastbourne

The couple who ran the English Wine Centre say they are devastated they have been forced to close the venue.
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Cllr Rob Blackman SUS-150909-121901001

In a letter to people who had booked weddings and functions, Richard Blackman said he and his wife Annette “are genuinely distressed we have let you down”.

The couple say after a year of trading at the centre, it “became clear we needed to renegotiate the rent” and blamed landlords, Colin and Christine Munday, the registered owners of the venue.

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“At first,” said Mr Blackman, “the landlord looked favourably on our request but then changed his mind. We also made an offer to buy the premises and this was rejected. We offered to hand back the business to the landlord so he could honour the bookings and this was accepted and then rejected.

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“Up until a few days before the end of December we were still hopeful the landlord would come back to the negotiating table but it seems he had no intention of doing so and instead wanted to lay the way open for a quick sale of his assets at auction. Without a deal and no premises, we had no option but to wind the business up.”

The wine centre is listed in the Clive Emson auction catalogue for Wednesday February 6 in Brighton.

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