relaunching as Hampton by Hilton in 2021<\/a>.<\/p>\nBut two ground-floor commercial spots earmarked for retail or food and drink firms have never been filled.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
![\"Socialite](\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg)
Socialite opened in 2022<\/p>\n
A bid to alter the conditions of the building \u2013 allowing a wider range of businesses to move in \u2013 was approved two years ago but has still failed to welcome new businesses.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, a few doors down the road, company records show The Loft is being wound up owing \u00a3110,000, half of which is owed to HM Revenue and Customs.<\/p>\n
But the venue\u2019s director and owner, Angela Long, insists the business is \u201cfully solvent\u201d, its debts have been cleared and the venue will remain open.<\/p>\n
She says she is winding down her company due to personal health reasons.<\/p>\n
Companies House records show the company was placed into voluntary liquidation last month, with an unpaid VAT bill of \u00a330,000 and income tax bill of \u00a3900 and just \u00a33,840 in the bank.<\/p>\n
The paperwork also shows Loft Canterbury was due to receive an \u201cinter-company loan\u201d worth \u00a3132,000, but the accounts now show none of this is expected to be provided.<\/p>\n
Socialite has been suddenly shut after a notice was placed on the door saying the landlords had taken back control of the building<\/p>\n
A further \u00a324,600 is owed to HMRC, while an account titled \u201cCanterbury City Council Rates\u201d is owed \u00a33,876 and Barclays Bank\u2019s \u201cBusiness Banking Insolvency Team\u201d is owed \u00a332,000.<\/p>\n
Another company owned by Mrs Long, City Wall Canterbury Limited, is also listed as being owed \u00a314,799 by Loft Canterbury Ltd.<\/p>\n
Responding to KentOnline, Mrs Long issued a defiant statement, saying the 22-year-old business will stay open, declaring it \u201cfully solvent\u201d and its debts have been cleared.<\/p>\n
\u201cI own the lease, I own the building, everything. It’s all been done because I need to make sure it’s all fresh,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’m taking on two partners just because I’ve got a serious health problem.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’ve been open there for 22 years, and it’s a busy place, so I’m not going to leave there.<\/p>\n
\u201cI suppose it would look like that [closing to avoid paying debts], but it’s actually not like that; it’s just a personal health thing that I’m doing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere won’t be any debt there \u2013 we’ve always been a profitable business.\u201d<\/p>\n
Insolvency experts Anderson Brookes were appointed by Mrs Long on January 19 to wind up the company.<\/p>\n
The firm told KentOnline it was \u201cunlikely that the creditors will be paid in full\u201d.<\/p>\n
The administrators have agreed to Mrs Long\u2019s request to liquidate the company.<\/p>\n
HMRC declined to comment, citing taxpayer confidentiality.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The future of a popular rooftop bar has been thrown into doubt after the business was evicted by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":409386,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[84,980,59,192,191,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-409385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-canterbury","tag-gb","tag-human-interest","tag-kent","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=409385"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409385\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/409386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=409385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=409385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=409385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}