Biography, Autobiography, Old Steve of Scarborough, North Yorkshire, United Kingdom

1. Reeling, not only at the swiftness of the whole thing but from the fact that it was the last thing I expected to happen, although I knew, at the back of my mind, that it was always a possibility. Right up to that point I still think I had always felt the the courts would smooth the way for me to honourably meet and discharge my debts and that I would always remain, what I firmly believed I was, an honourable, forthright, upright and honest person. In a matter of minutes my life changed dramatically and although now, and looking back with hindsight, I realise that the man was right and he did the best that could possibly be done for me, at the time it struck me numb. If my parents had been alive it would have killed my mother the result of all her distorted outlook on life and her inability to grasp reality. But having said that my ability to handle it was not all that impressive. I trembled from head to foot, sweat, stammered and at the same time as my eyes went blurred, I felt a dreadful chill inside.

2. I remember being ushered into this large office, refusing coffee and realising that my wife was very calm. Whether she had cried her last or she was experiencing a sense of relief I shall never know, as I don't propose to ask her, but she seemed calm and fully in control of the situation. She told me where to sign things and seemed to answer all the questions put to us. The next thing I remember being told was that we had to remain in this office until the Judge released us and was I sure I didn't want any coffee? Somewhere in all my confusion I was handed a telephone and a guy, on the other end, told me he was the Official Receiver and that I had, under the law, to answer his questions. His main concern was where I lived, in relation to the court and would I be returning home on foot or by car and how long it would take me? I told him ten minutes to walk it. His next concern was to the number of people living permanently or temporarily on the premises and I assured him there were only my wife and I.

3. When we were left alone I asked my wife what we were going to do, to which she replied that she didn't know but that we would live to fight another day. After what seemed like forever and to this day I do not remeber how long, the Court Clerk came and said we were free to go and suggested we went straight home.

5. On our way to the Court we had remarked, I suppose in some subconscious attempt to cover nervousness that it was a lovely day, weather wise, and when we came out it was even better. It was extremely hot and the sun burnt down and I remember saying that it might help business a little. What business? I was no longer a Licensee and had no business. I was a Bankrupt.

6. When we arrived home and I was on the point of putting the keys in the door a man approached us, showed his warrant and informed us that he was the Bailiff from the Official Receivers Office and the first thing I was required to do was give him the keys. I made no protest, as I really had no idea what was happening to me.

9. Their job was to recover assets, from us, to cover as much of our outstanding debts, their expenses and everything else that was required by law. Apparently there are things they can't touch and which they must leave you, including sufficient on which to survive and that includes cash. What they seize and take away is turned into cash and after the deduction of their expenses the Official Receiver determines who gets what in terms of payment and settlement.

10. Everything seemed fairly straight forward. The first thing I was told is that if I attempted to withhold anything and they found out about it, then I could be prosecuted. I could no longer, legally, open the door and attempt to sell drink, as I was no longer a Licensee. They wanted to know who owned what as regards gaming and vending machines and what equipment was owned by the brewery. by me or was leased from an independent company or supplier? Did I jointly own anything? Had I any other property or land either wholly or jointly owned? Had I any stocks and shares, bonds, investments etc?

11. While the prime concern of the two 'assistants' was to contact anyone with an interest in the place and to arrange to meet them on the premises, the following day, with a view to taking away anything that belonged to them, the main man asked for and started collecting any business records he could lay his hands on and he gave me nice little yellow receipts for anything he placed in sealed bags. All three of them then went round putting 'Bar Code' stickers on all the major items that they considered worth impounding and having made out a list said they would return the following morning, at 8 am and if anything that had had a Bar Code stuck on it was missing or had been tampered with, then I could be arrested, as all those items now belonged to them. So collecting up all my Books, bank books, credit cards, cheque books and the contents of the Till, they left.

14. One of the first people I contacted was my son and let him know that if he wanted a spare car he had better get over to collect it and back date the documents to a couple of days before when he had first 'asked' for it and I had agreed to 'give it to him.' At the same time we removed all the pictures which were all part of a very large collection and which had decorated most of the available wall space in the Lounge Bar and which I had told the Bailiff were on loan to me and actually belonged to my son. Most of them did as he had taken them originall; photography being one of his hobbies.

15. We then decided that if this was going to be our last night in the Pub then we had better make the most out of it. There was still a substantial amount of drink that had not been labelled up by the Bailiff, who was obviously not interested in open and partly consumed bottles of spirits and wine. Bottled beers, in the bar area, had largely been left and only the full barrels and crates in the cellar had been labelled and noted.

16. Resigning ourselves to our inevitable fate and shedding the odd tear here and there, we spent quite some considerable time ringing round to everyone we could think of and telling them that we had closed for personal reasons and as a thank you would they care to join us for a free party that night to celebrate.

17. We had one of the best crowds, in terms of numbers, that we had had in the bar in months and we all set about drinking as much as was humanly possible for I had already decided that if I were to go I was not going to leave anything, that I didn't legally have to, for those who had played a major roll in my downfall. So along with all the drink anyone who fancied anything and just as long as they took it away with them that night, just had to ask. Carrier bags were provided, from somewhere in the kitchen, for decorative mirrors, off the walls, the large brass bar bell, clocks, bar glasses, ashtrays, boxes of crisps, kitchen equipment and anything that moved, was fancied, and had not been marked up, was given away as a goodbye present from us and that included optics, bar towels, the Till and several Stainless Steel Buckets and other cellar equipment, that were all mine, and that other local traders felt they could use. One chap 'nipped home' and returned with a small van which several of them used to load up their plunder. The place was certainly a lot different the following day and the only thing that might have gone but which was not taken the night before and was therefore 'lost to the receiver,' was a large industrial microwave from the kitchen. All other portable electrical stuff went along with the crockery and kitchen utensils etc.

18. During the festivities we became aware that there was a firework display somewhere outside and we all trooped out into the street to watch a magnificent aerial display from the Castle Headland. Someone asked if we had arranged it and we all laughed while my wife, jokingly, claimed it was for her birthday that, will you believe, was within days of us going down the slot.

20. All that day suppliers arrived and negotiated with the Bailiff as to what was legally theirs before they took them away. The place certainly looked sad when the Pool Table, Juke Box, Gaming and Cigarette machines had all gone. One Gaming Machine owner failed to turn up and what the final outcome of that was I don't know, for having his machine broken into, the cash removed and handed to me and a phone call made to tell him his machine would be available for collection from the Receivers Warehouse, it was dumped on their van.

21. The Brewery were there that second day, with bells on, and this little shit, not known by me, tried to claim that they had a claim on the cellar for stock to the value of £1,200 which was for an order I had placed and not paid for. The strokes these brewery bastards tried to pull and he was not happy with the title I suggested he should adopt for himself before I went on to tell the Bailiff that all my records would show that I had had no alternative but to pay, cash up front, for every order before they would deliver it and had done so for at least the last two years. He, the little shit, then tried to claim outstanding rent and I happily pointed out that that had also been paid weekly, with order, and that without it there would have been no delivery. I got a great deal of pleasure from telling the Bailiff that despite the fact that there was not a great deal in the cellar it was all mine. This bloke was asked to leave in no uncertain terms and someone else was requested, by the Bailiff, to attend from the brewery. Anyone and everyone from the Brewery all turned out to be shits once they had dissociated themselves from us and that despite the fact that we had done our best towards earning what paid their salaries.

22. Later on in the day I was told that an arrangement had been made between the Receiver, through the Bailiff, for the Brewery to puchase everything else that was left, including all items 'Bar Coded' and relative to the Bar. Sadly they would not tell me the amount they had settled for but I secretly hoped that they had paid well over the odds for it all despite the fact that it would go to my debtors.

23. That was it. They loaded up what was to be taken away to the auction rooms while the Brewery arranged for the locks to be changed on the outside door and the connecting door through to the private area where the Bailiff assured me that under the Landlord and Tennant Act, only recently having been applied to Pubs, they would have to serve me notice to quit and to make sure I got a minimum of three weeks and if I did not then to go straight back to the County Court. The Brewery Rep asked us to leave the Bar and as we went through the connecting door it was locked behind us and they served us with official notice to quit the following day.

24. I sat upstairs that night, among what they had left us, and listened to people going in and out of MY pub. I had nothing against the temporary people, they had put in at such short notice to manage the place, but I hoped they could not cope or that some essential equipment had either been taken or given away. I knew the place looked dreadful and it reminded me of a bar undergoing refurbishment where most of the fixtures and fittings have been taken out. The following day several Brewery wagons turned up and there was a lot of activity in the Bar down below.