Where we actually are
The family loan sits at roughly £120,000 — and everyone agrees on that figure, which is a big step forward on its own. It breaks down like this:
Personal loan
£50,000
The bounceback loan Celia & Mike covered, repaid to the bank and lent to Deri personally.
In the building
£70,000
The rest — the original purchase and equipment over the years.
No interest has ever been charged on any of it, and none is going to be. Mum and Dad have been clear they’d like it repaid and would ideally like the building sold — not as pressure, just honestly. Everything below is about making that possible without it landing on you all at once.
The plan
One is the main push. Two runs alongside it to keep money moving. Three is the long shot we keep warm but don’t bet on.
It’s listed at £220,000 with BJ Properties. Realistically it won’t go at that, so the job now is working out what it’s actually worth and stepping the price down deliberately rather than panic-dropping it. Expect three to six months.
What it means for you — A sale clears the whole £120k in one go and you walk away clean — with the Warren name still yours. This is the one everyone’s pointing at.
The Warren in a new flavour: three nights a week, wine and coffee, something you and one other person can run without it swallowing you. Not the old restaurant, not forever — just enough to get money moving through the door while the sale takes its course.
What it means for you — Revenue coming in instead of only going out, and a bit of room to breathe. If it goes well the repayments go up. If it doesn’t, it stops — no harm done.
A community interest company runs The Warren and rents the building from you as landlord. You’d need two other directors — not Mum and Dad. It’s still romantic rather than real, and worth being honest that Cegin’s directors weren’t keen on this venue, so that door isn’t as open as it looked.
What it means for you — If it ever came off, rent of £1,000 a month makes a real dent, and £2,000 would genuinely clear things. But it needs people, and it needs the sale not to have happened first.
The bit that changes everything
The proposal is £200 a month, starting now. It’s a nominal figure and nobody’s pretending it clears £120k — that’s not the point. The point is that it moves, it shows good faith, and it takes the whole thing out of limbo.
I’ll sit in the middle of it so you and Mum and Dad aren’t negotiating with each other directly. We review it every three months: if the temporary opening starts bringing money in, it goes up. If it doesn’t, it comes down. No drama either way.
And if the building sells, or a CIC ever pays rent, that’s when the real repayment happens. The £200 is just how we get moving in the meantime.
Written down properly
I’ve drafted this up as a simple written agreement so it’s recorded and nobody has to keep having the conversation. It’s plain English, not lawyer-speak — a record of what we’ve all agreed, not a contract to hold over anyone.
What happens now
Good news first: the gas bill’s come down now the estimate’s been corrected. Rest is quick.
You
Cancel the broadband. £260 to get out now, but it’s £100 a month and runs to February — so you’re about £340 better off cancelling. Worth doing.
Have a think about the small reopening — what three nights would actually look like, and who the one other person might be.
Me
Talk to BJ Properties about what the building is realistically worth and how we step the price down sensibly.
Sort the repayment agreement and keep Mum and Dad in the loop so you don’t have to.
Worth knowing: the accessibility funding was a no — The Warren isn’t eligible while the balance sheet is negative. Annoying, but at least we know, and it’s another reason the grant-funded routes were never going to move quickly.
The one thing that doesn’t change
Whatever happens to the building, the Warren name stays yours. It’s explicitly not part of the sale. The name, the reputation, the mailing list — that’s the real asset, and it walks out with you. Sell the bricks, keep the Warren.
Over to you
Thumbs on each one above, or just a line here. It saves as you type and nothing reaches me until you hit send.
