Sheffield bar owners unable to access furlough cash to pay staff after bank freezes account

The owners of Public, an award winning bar in a former toilet block under Sheffield Town Hall on Surrey Street, used the bar’s Twitter account to condemn Barclays.

They said Barclays froze their account for missing repayments on a loan they had asked for a ‘loan holiday’ on during lockdown.

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The account contains Government furlough cash for 40 members of staff employed at the bar and two others in the group.

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It also contains a Government loan offered to companies during lockdown to help them survive.

The owners copied in Barclays, their MP Paul Blomfield and Chancellor Rishi Sunak into the tweets.

They said: “Barclays have frozen our current account for missing loan payments on a loan we asked for the loan holiday on, and then offered numerous times to set up a sensible payment plan.

“It’s the current account for all three of our bars and is how we pay the furlough for 40 staff. So now we cannot access either the furlough money or the grant money the government have given us to help us survive and retain our 40 staff in employment.

“Barclays have essentially commandeered government funds and taxpayers money by doing this.

“We’ve had no indication when or even if Barclays will allow us access to the account.

“I find it staggering that they would treat small business companies in this way at this time.”

Public was named the best place to drink in the country in 2018, less than a year after opening.

In a statement, Barclays said: “For privacy reasons we can’t discuss the specifics of this case, but have been working closely with the customer to ensure that all his employees are paid as a matter of urgency.

“We continue to support over one million business customers across the UK and have facilitated £18.9 billion into the economy, including into thousands of hospitality businesses.”