Former licensee wins settlement after pub is destroyed

After nearly four years of fighting, former licensee Nils Hughes has forced two companies to admit partial liability for a gas explosion that destroyed his Wiltshire pub.

Mr Hughes has agreed an out-of-court settlement with Ken Wheeler Catering Equipment Ltd and Ken Wheeler Catering Equipment (Services). A gas explosion ripped through Mr Hughes's pub, the Kings Arms, in Monkton Farleigh, in October 2000.

Both companies had carried out repairs to a grill days before the accident but they refused to admit they were at fault and subsequently went into liquidation.

Mr Hughes lost the business and his home in his fight to get the companies to admit liability.

Now the agreement means the liquidators will pay £40,000 to Mr Hughes and he will finally be able to clear his debts.

"It is a massive relief," he told the Wiltshire Times. "It has taken three to four years of extensive legal costs to get this far."

Mr Hughes, who now works for a plastics firm, had won several awards for his pub's food in his first year of trading and was aiming to be awarded a Michelin Star. But his dreams of success were dashed after the explosion.

"I lost my house, my business, the £180,000 I invested," he said.

He said he would like to open another pub one day. "Food and wine is my life," he said. "Hopefully one day I will come back to a Wiltshire pub and try again."