Swindon town centre restaurant to stay open after council U-turn

The owners of the Octagon restaurant, Jon and Heidi Flitcroft, had been operating under the impression that the building would be demolished along with the bus station when the time came.

Their lease for the council-owned property expired this month, but they believed that it would be continued on a rolling basis until the time of demolition after the Fleming Way improvement work has finished.

However, they were shocked to receive a letter from the council informing them the keys needed to be returned on September 14, forcing them to close the restaurant which has been in Swindon for forty years for good on Thursday, September 7.

But just a day before the planned closure, and after the Swindon Advertiser had approached Swindon Borough Council for comment, the pair received a phone call stating that the council had changed its mind - and they would not need to pay rent.

The Octagon in Swindon (Image: Dave Cox)

Jon and Heidi took over the running of the Octagon in 2018 in what they called a "dream move".

But like many other hospitality venues, they experienced financial hardship not long afterwards due to the Covid outbreak.

The pair were determined to keep the loved fixture open and running so took out loans to keep the business afloat.

“After Covid, we were just about getting back on track,” Jon explained. “All of the workers started going back to work and we began to bounce back.

“We had not been paying rent so had racked up some debts there, but we were starting to make a profit again and were able to start paying off the loans we took out and the future looked positive.”

But then the Fleming Way improvement work started, which saw the entire area around the bus station and restaurant completely closed.

“This had a huge impact on us, it was massive. It practically killed our business overnight and our customer levels dropped around 70-80 per cent.”

“Had the Fleming Way closure not happened we’d be getting back to where we should be – everything was on track.”

Heidi Flitcroft working at The Octagon (Image: Dave Cox)

The Flitcrofts were then left scraping by in the hope that they’d be able to pay off the £60,000 debt they’d incurred to keep the business afloat, including roughly £23,000 owed to the council in unpaid rent.

So, when the council confirmed the sudden unexpected closure, because of those debts, Jon said it had practically condemned them to bankruptcy.

“It left us in a massively bad situation, we wouldn’t have been able to pay the debt off as the business wouldn’t be running.

“Bankruptcy isn’t even really an option as we have a mortgage on our house, so declaring bankruptcy could mean we lose our home.

“This has been a huge strain on us.”

But after the U-turn, things are looking slightly more hopeful and there’s a chance that keeping the business going will enable them to pay off the loans they took out.

“We still need to see how viable it all is, but the council has said we can stay, as long as we start making payments to clear the debt, we owe them,” Jon said.

Swindon Borough Council were approached for comment and provided the following statement.

“This is an ongoing commercial landlord and tenant matter and, as a result, we are unable to comment further.”