How much could (do) you live on?

I think I am beginning to sniff out a few half truths atm. I have now learned three other people have got to this stage. The local pub was one of them. Thanks btw.

 

Awaiting a phone call any minute to thrash a few truths out of them if I can.

 

Just got off the phone to them. I need to digest what was said. I will post up later.

Tbh. I am more than a bit suspicious atm. Our council doesn't have the best reputation for being. Err.. open!

 

Update. After a month of phone calls and emails. We have now been told we are not the only party interested and the unit will have to go out to tender.We have decided it is not all as simple as was first suggested and there are too many obstacles to climb before we know if we have it or not. We are not prepared to spend the sort of money they want for planning consultation and are a little dismayed that as the project progresses more people come out of the woodwork as prospective tenants. We think we are being used as guinea pigs to get the the thing set up for someone else to nip in.

We have another meeting tomorrow, I will ask for assurances again, but up until now no one will give us any. The likelyhood is, we we will drop it.

 

To be fair it sounded fairly unlikely from the outset....
If it was a viable opportunity, the owner isn't going to give it away without trying to maximise their return.

 

Bang on.

Yes the hut is owned by the local council. I have found out it was a cafe for years, back in 1978 it closed. Since the last people moved on it has been used as all manner of storage and generally neglected. We still have to go through planning for change of use to use it as a cafe?

Sceptiscism and mistrust me thinks. I am asking a lot of direct questions tomorrow and if the answers are not forthcoming we shall be walking away.

 

Edit. We have a statement from the previous cafe owners brother ( who works with me ) saying it was always a cafe and have asked why do we need planning. It also now transpires they do not own the sceptic tank and we will have to put our own in at great cost and planning consent in a conservation area. They knew this before and decided not to tell us until this week.

 

The whole thing was offered to me as a exclusive deal by the head ranger. The owners as I said are the local authority. I truly believe now, we are being used to push it through and someone else will get in at the last minute. I know this sounds unlikely, but it happened to Lou and I once before with this lot. caution was always our byword with this one Doug.

 

The head ranger probably has no authority to offer deals, exclusive or otherwise though, if it's owned by the LA?

Oh, and getting pipped to the post doesn't sound unlikely to me at all. I wouldn't trust a LA further than I could throw them!

 

Yes. We realise that now. At the first meeting we actually quizzed him over this and he admitted then it was all down to the council ultimately, but he would be in favour of someone local taking it on. We had doubts from then on and have had nothing but knock backs thus far.

In the end, the outlay of £25k plus just to get a job that requires at least me and Lou working 7 days a week to earn probably less than we get now is the thing that has seen us lose interest. Cest la vie.

 

Yep, doesn't sound great!