‘Sickening’ cost to taxpayers of failed Dudley Council bar project revealed
The true cost to Dudley Council taxpayers of the failed Brookes Bar and Bistro project was in excess of £1.5m.
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Figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act reveal the biggest cost to the authority was capital investment since 2019 of £1.082 million.
The bar opened in the 2022/23 financial year when spending amounted to a total of £365,900 on staffing, catering and bar provisions, plus other items.
During the same period the bar only made £182,400 meaning it returned a loss of £182,400.
The situation got worse in the 2023/24 year with spending up to a whopping £561,800 but income was just £356,300, leading to a loss of £205,500.
As cash leaked away, the council employed an external consultant in December 2023 who has to date been paid £49,889.
The consultant’s original role was to assess the future of hospitality at the Priory Street bar, the borough’s town town hall bars, leisure centre cafes and Himley Hall.
The management of these facilities was transferred in April 2024 to the council’s commercial department and the consultant took over operational management at Brookes Bar after the departure of three managers.
The closure of the bar was announced on August 1 and it is expected to shut its doors for the last time at the end of the month, having cost the council, so far, a total of £1,519,789.
Councillor Shaun Keasey, who owns a nightclub in Wolverhampton, said: “It is absolutely sickening, it is an obscene amount of money when the council is in its current financial position.
“It is entirely unacceptable to ask the people of Dudley to swallow this.
“There was a complete lack of forward thinking from management and a level of arrogance and incompetence, political leaders have allowed £1.5 million of our money to be wasted.”
Dudley’s leader, Councillor Patrick Harley, pointed out he was in opposition when the council began the project and it would not have gone ahead under his leadership due the costs of renovating the building.
He added the external consultant reduced losses at the bar ‘substantially’ and there was a business plan in place which would have seen the bar in profit in 18 months time.
Councillor Harley said: “There are lessons for all local authorities to learn, they shouldn’t be dipping their toes into the water of commercial activity of this kind.”
Councillor Harley added there had been interest from commercial operators in taking over Brookes Bar.
