Sunderland pub closes suddenly and owner warns 'it may never reopen'

The Gleneagles Pub, in Grindon, closed suddenly on Tuesday, February 18, after a decision was made that it was no longer ‘viable’.

Licencees had been operating the pub, which was bought by Temple i Property Group and Consultants three months ago, until Tuesday when the keys were handed back to the owners and the pub was ‘made secure’.

Nearby residents have also reported seeing police officers at the pub on Tuesday after bins were set on fire outside the property on Monday evening.

Now the owners have spoken of plans to transform the pub into something new as the doors close, potentially indefinitely.

John Simm, commercial manager, said: “We put someone on licence in the property and it wasn’t viable to trade on and they decided to give the keys back.

“We secured the property where necessary.

“There was some damage to the pub there was some bins set alight on the property.”

“At the moment we're not looking for an occupier.

“We’ve got various pubs in various areas and the big pubs, like this, they are hard to fill.

“We’ve been looking to do something different with it.”

The pub, which was formerly the Sandhill, opened in 1965 and has changed hands multiple times over the decades.

It now looks set to become the latest in a run of closures of estate pubs in Sunderland.

John added: “This property was bought for redevelopment into something. We are looking into this at the moment.

“We will be looking to revamp the property but we are certainly not looking to put it back into the pub.”

Police officers were called to The Gleneagles on Tuesday afternoon to reports of a suspected arson.

A Northumbria Police spokesman said: “We received a call on Tuesday at 12.28 pm to report that sometime between 6 pm on Monday and 12.15 pm the next day, three bins were set alight outside The Gleneagles pub, on Gleneagles Road, Sunderland.”

Anyone with information should call 101 quoting log 442 18/02/20.