A Bolton pub has closed after the landlord left over building issues which he said caused mushrooms to grow inside, mould to cover walls, and a ceiling to collapse in front of the main entrance.

Pub landlord Craig Pinion took over the Cheetham Arms, on Blackburn Road, in 2022. At first, things looked promising – with a brand new refurbishment to boot.

But then, Craig said things started to go wrong – with leaking through the pub’s roof causing the pub to smell of damp.

“It’s a shame, because we put lots of effort into getting that pub… at one point we had it working really well. Unfortunately, towards the end, with all the setbacks we’d had, it’s unrecoverable at this point,” Craig said.

At one point, he said the ceiling even fell down in front of the main entrance – leaving customers having to enter through the pub’s fire exit.

 

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Craig said: “You couldn’t actually physically open the door – so we had to put a sign on saying ‘please use the fire exit’ – that’s not ideal for a pub.

“You’ve got things like the smell of damp, so when you’re trying to run a food business, even though the kitchen’s in good repair and we had a five star [food hygiene] rating, people are going to doubt.

“You’re going into a pub that smells of damp, which has black mould on the walls. Even though we’re doing everything in our power to try and keep on top of it, it’s no the most appealing place to go for your Sunday dinner, is it?”

Pub landlord Craig says he first reported the issues to building owner Stonegate Group in January 2023 – but the company’s repairs never lasted.

“We counted up with one of their representatives and we’d actually reported it 23 times – they did things where they’d send a company out, they’d look at the roof and say they’d fixed it.

“You’d have a few days where it didn’t rain, so you’d think everything’s great and then it’d rain again, and you’d quickly realise the roof hadn’t been repaired.”

Months on, the Craig says the pub’s roof has now been repaired – but he and wife Joanne have moved on.

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Now, they’ve handed the pub back to Stonegate.

However, it’s not all bad news for Craig – who has now taken over the Swan Hotel on Bury’s Tottington Road.

The 40-year-old said: “We took over the Swan back in June and we’ve just done a kitchen refurbishment project, and we’ve just done a kitchen refurbishment project, so we’ve just opened for food in the past two weeks.

“Obviously we’re upset with what happened at the Cheetham Arms, but we’ve got a really good positive pub moving forward now, where we’ve got no issues with the property, everything works like it should. We had a bit of an issue with something leaking the other week and someone was there within an hour, it was fixed, it was dealt with.

“We’ve lost out quite considerably with the Cheetham Arms, but we’ve got something to work on now to try and get back what was lost.”

Mushrooms began to grow on the pubMushrooms began to grow on the pub (Image: Supplied)

A Stonegate Group spokesperson said: “Following attempts to fix leaks in the roof of the Cheetham Arms, in July Stonegate Group invested a significant sum of money into a new roof for the pub, rectifying any concerns about the condition of the building and ensuring the pub could continue to serve the local community.

“Since then, the landlord at the Cheetham Arms and Stonegate Group have agreed to terminate their tenancy and the pub is currently closed. The process for recruiting a new landlord has begun and we hope to reopen and be back serving the people of Bolton soon.”

If you have a story, I cover the whole borough of Bolton. Please get in touch at jack.fifield@newsquest.co.uk.