Motorhead back Trillians Rock Bar – but investors are given November 20 deadline

CAMPAIGNERS hoping to save their beloved city rock pub have just a week for someone to come forward with a rescue package.

Trillians Rock Bar was shut on November 1 after it’s parent company, the Bramwell Pub Company, entered administration.

Since then almost 13,000 people – including rock legends Motorhead and Marshall Amplifiers – have backed an online effort to have the venue reopened.

But now it has been revealed there is just a week until the deadline to find a new tenant to take over the £30,000 a year, 25-year lease on the premises and pay a one off fee of £30,000 to buy all the fixtures and fittings.

However, it is believed a number of possible investors have already come forward before the November 20 cut-off and Newcastle Central MP Chi Onwurah said her own discussions with administrators had been positive – though it is still unclear what the fate of 10 of the firm’s 12 pubs in the North East will be.

“Over the weekend I spoke to Trillians’ administrators Zolfo Cooper,” she said. “They are keen to work together to find a solution which allows Trillians to reopen to serve its loyal and committed clientele.

“However the Bramwell chain itself will be broken up and Trillians is a leasehold property so its future depends on the current leaseholder and whether someone can be found to take on the lease.

“Expressions of interest can be made to me or the administrators and there will be a follow up meeting to discuss Trillian’s future in the next few days.”

Far from being a failing business it is believed the only reason Trillians was shuttered was because of its owners collapse.

In the 11 months to August 2013 the bar had a turnover of just under £340,000, down from £404,000 in the previous 12 months and £418,800 the year before that.

The Pow Burn in North Shields, which closed on the same day, is also set to be marketed through Christie + Co’s Newcastle office.

However, while the Bridle Path in Whickham, the Blagdon Arms in Cramlington, the Grey Horse in East Boldon, Whitehills and the Red Lion in Chester-le-Street, Chesters, Chaplins, Varsity and the Blue Bell in Sunderland, and Varsity in Durham continue to trade, their future remains uncertain.

Thirty five of Bramwell’s 185 pubs are set to be sold, and the Morning Advertiser reports that the Stonegate Pub Company is eyeing up a further 80.

But which businesses are included within that latter group, and what would then happen to the remaining 70 is not clear.