A PUB manager who refused to leave after allegedly racking up thousands of pounds’ worth of debt has finally moved out – eight weeks after the pub called last orders.

Landlady Tracey Rumble asked her estranged manager Chris Sheals to leave the flat at the top of The Sandgate, in Oxford Road, when the pub pulled its last pint at the end of March.

He refused to leave for weeks after allegedly accruing utility debts and brewery fines, forcing the pub to close, but he has now complied with a letter from Tracey’s solicitor telling him to leave by noon on Friday 13.

Tracey is now hoping to re-open the pub next week to start repaying the debts before a new leaseholder is found by brewery Enterprise Inns.

Tracey said: “I have got the keys back. Basically now the brewery are concentrating on getting it back open.

“They are looking to get the pub open and then it goes straight on the market through the brewery. It is just one bit at a time now.”

Tracey, 46, left Mr Sheals in control of the beer and bills at the Enterprise Inns-owned pub last August when she moved to Cheltenham to take on another pub, the Little Owl.

She was returning to The Sandgate weekly until she broke her foot but kept in contact by phone.

Then the brewery contacted Tracey just before Christmas to tell her its bills had not been paid.

And she later discovered that utility bills were also being ignored.

“Last time I spoke to him was on Friday and he said that he had left the key. I went up Tuesday and the key was left for me,” she said.

“We have got to concentrate on getting it open. The brewery want to see the pub open so they can sell it and get the money back. We want to give them the money that is owed to them.

“Hopefully it will be open next week, that is when they want it. I’m being directed by them and what they want to happen now because obviously they want the debt that has been incurred back and the only way they can do that is through getting it open and trading.

“From what I can gather there are some people who want to see it open again. Hopefully we will get people in and it is a matter of getting fresh staff.”

Tracey became landlady of The Sandgate three and a half years ago when she also appointed her then friend, Chris, as manager.

Chris says he refused to leave because he claims he invested £30,000 into the business but does not appear on any of the paperwork for the pub.

“I am out of the pub, I don’t know whether anyone else is in the pub. All my stuff is out,” he said.

“I had a letter from the solicitor, it just asked me to vacate by noon on that Friday. I consulted my solicitor and he said ‘You can fight it to the courts but it is going to be quite expensive.’ “It is a business dispute. I invested money and Tracey invested money. It is a lose-lose situation for both of us unfortunately but it is just what happens in business.”