A new tenant has stepped forward to reopen the Snug Bar in Dundee but does not know when she will be able to pull her first pint.
Leahanne McGurty, licensee of the Three Barrels and the Downfield Hotel, has signed a lease for the Church Street pub, which closed after the last licence holder was declared bankrupt.
The Snug is an institution for football fans, sitting in the shadow of Tannadice and Dens parks.
Leahanne’s husband Mark, manager of the two other premises, said they were very much looking forward to taking over the Snug but did not know when that will be.
“We have signed a lease with the owners, but are waiting for some issues to be resolved in connection with the former lease holder and licensee giving up the premises,” he said.
“Our hands are tied until this happens as we can’t get a licence from the council to reopen it. When this does happen we will run the place more or less the same way as it has always been run.
“We will give the place a bit of a spruce up but it would be daft to change it and we won’t be changing it. We also aim to keep the team of full and part-time staff who worked there under the last licence holder.”
The McGurtys have been in the licensed trade for three years, first with the Three Barrels round the corner in Strathmartine Road and then with the Downfield Hotel, popularly known as Doc Stewarts, in the north section of Strathmartine Road.
The Downfield Hotel is owned by Punch Taverns and the Three Barrels by Heineken, part of Scottish & Newcastle Pub Company, which also owns the Snug.
The sequestration of the Snug’s last licensee Ronald Adams snr, who ran up debts of nearly £30,000 in unpaid council tax and business rates, means that the property returned to Heineken and his licence was cancelled.
As a result of his sequestration, the Accountant in Bankruptcy was appointed by the court as trustee and the case is being administered by insolvency practitioner Wylie & Bisset of Glasgow.
A spokesman for Scottish & Newcastle said the premises was being advertised as a vacancy and a new lease holder was being sought.