Smoke rebel landlord locked out (From The Bolton News)

Smoke rebel landlord locked out

11:27am Saturday 22nd September 2007

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REBEL landlord Nick Hogan has been locked out of his pub.

And by last night he had also lost the licence for the The Swan hotel in Bolton town centre and the neighbouring Barristers bar.

Mr Hogan has been in the headlines for his stance on the smoking ban, introduced in July.

He has repeatedly allowed drinkers to smoke in his bars and is now awaiting trial after pleading not guilty to five counts of failing to prevent people from smoking and four counts of obstructing council officers.

The owner of The Swan and Barristers building, Paul Kylie, called in a team of bailiffs to force entry to the building and change the locks yesterday morning.

He claimed Mr Hogan had breached the terms of his lease - which states he must abide by all UK laws - by allowing customers to smoke.

A notice placed in the window said any attempts by Mr Hogan to re-enter the premises would lead to criminal or civil action being taken against him.

In a day of dramatic twists and turns, Mr Hogan then took court action and won the right to re-enter the property.

But within hours, Bolton Council's licensing department agreed to an application by Paul Kylie to change the tenancy to his son Ryan.

Last night Mr Hogan, who has run The Swan for the last three years, claimed he had been the victim of a stitch-up.

Mr Hogan said bailiffs forced entry to the Swan and Barristers at around 6.15am and activated the burglar alarms.

He immediately drove to the pub and met his manager, and said he found Paul Kylie and a number of bailiffs in the yard.

They had changed the locks and chained the gates which lead to the entrance of the Barristers bar.

Mr Hogan contacted his solicitor and took the matter to a hearing at the High Court in Manchester, where he won the right to get back into the property.

He claimed he couldn't be branded a law breaker until he had been convicted in relation to breaching the smoking ban.

But meanwhile, Mr Kylie and his son had visited Bolton Council's licensing department, where they got the tenancy of The Swan and Barristers changed so Ryan Kylie was the new licensee.

Licensing Act laws say that it is within the rights of a pub owner to change the nominated licensee if he or she is able to prove they can run the premises for the reason they were licensed.

The owner must also have tried to gain the consent of the current licensee to the change.

Mr Hogan said last night: "Bolton Council has acted illegally, they have acted irresponsibly and I believe they have taken this course of action because I have allowed people to smoke, despite the smoking ban.

"The council must be off their rockers to do this. I will sue them over this - then I'll sue them again."

A spokesman for the council's licensing department said hearings regarding a change of licensee were "nothing out of the ordinary".

"They can normally be completed in a fairly short period of time. On this occasion we were satisfied that parties involved were able to satisfy all the criteria necessary," he said.

"If Mr Hogan wishes to invoke a similar process, it is well within his rights."

The Swan and Barristers are at the centre of a tug-of-war, with owner Paul Kylie reportedly offering them for sale with vacant possession to Darren Miller, the owner of the Flying Flute in Bradshawgate, Before yesterday's developments, Mr Hogan claimed the sale could not happen because he has a lease on the pubs until 2040.

Mr Kylie was not available for comment yesterday.

But last night The Swan and Barristers were open for business as usual.

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