Landlord pledges to reopen three pubs

A Staffordshire pub landlord today vowed to reopen his three town centre pubs – including a popular music venue – within weeks after they closed suddenly.

Eddie Woodcock was forced to call last orders at Stafford pubs The Grapes, the Coach & Horses and Bear & Pheasant this week, blaming the "economic climate".

He has had to cancel gigs lined up at the town's popular music spot The Grapes for the next fortnight but hopes he can have all three pubs back trading again soon.

Twelve bar and backroom staff have been left in limbo following the closures while bands booked to play at The Grapes in the next fortnight have been cancelled.

Licensee Eddie Woodcock today blamed the "economic climate" but vowed all three pubs would reopen.

"We have had to close unfortunately, for the time being," the 53-year-old said. "But we will be open again shortly. "It is down to the economic climate, but I don't want to go any further than that. Things are going on behind the scenes to try and sort the situation out, but we will be reopening - The Grapes is the main music bar in Stafford."

Mr Woodcock added: "Bands will be cancelled over the next fortnight to give me some time to deal with this."

Before this week's sudden closure The Grape hosted live gigs four nights a week, with karaoke each Tuesday and discos after the gigs on Fridays and Saturdays.

It was converted to a music venue by musician Derek Holt in 1995 and the Climax Blues Band guitarist said today he was dismayed it had run into difficulties.

"It's very sad that this has happened but I'm sure The Grapes will rise again," said the 63-year-old, who until this week had played a slot on a Sunday night.

"I know the landlord works really hard to put quality live music on but at the end of the day it's all up to customers turning up."

Stafford Borough Council has written off thousands of pounds in lost business rates in the last few months, with leader Mike Heenan saying the majority of losses were due to pubs closing down.