Sando Owner To Fight The Bank After Venue Takeover

Tony Townsend, owner of Sydney's Sandringham Hotel, has partnered with lobby group Unhappy Banking after the iconic live music venue went into receivership and was taken over by a bank-appointed controller.

Townsend, who has the support of Melbourne live music stakeholders who faced a similar issue with The Tote, believes that the bank acted in an 'irrational' manner, while Unhappy Banking's Geoff Shannon described the actions as "criminal".

The future of the Newtown venue has been in question for a while after it was put up for sale last year. In July it was revealed that the venue had officially entered receivership after “three men in suits” arrived at the venue and told Townsend that accounting firm Ferrier Hodgson were now in control.

The next day theMusic.com.au revealed that Jack Lucas of JP Lucas Hotels had been appointed to oversee the venue by BankWest.

Townsend says that he “couldn't understand how or why a bank with whom I had a successful and ongoing relationship could come in and change the rules to effectively force my wife and I out of the business we've built up hands-on over the years.” He added, “We never missed a payment to the bank, we were on track.”

In supporting the plight of the Sandringham Hotel, Shannon added, “It is never good for us to come across another business owner in such financial distress, who has been treated extremely badly by a bank, but unfortunately we are seeing a pattern of this.

"Businesses that are trading successfully, with no default of payments to the banks, are suddenly being forced to wall because the bank simply changed their internal views and processes. It is criminal.”

Townsend said he's had the situation reviewed by a panel of business advisers, and they have told him that there is "no rational case" for the bank's actions.

Shannon said that the venue is a victim of 'Project Magellan'. "Effectively we believe Commonwealth Bank reviewed the BankWest commercial loan book to clear over 1,000 loans that were outside Commonwealth's lending guidelines," he said. "They didn't just shift the goalposts, they took them away."

Townsend is planning a rally for live music Sunday 26 August at Sydney Park, which will then march up King St to the Sandringham Hotel. It will be similar to the massive Save Live Australia's Music Rally, which was the catalyst for live music awareness in Victoria and helped save The Tote from liquor licensing laws. They are also hoping to attract 10,000 names on this petition.

Publican of The Tote Hotel, Jon Perring, has contacted Townsend to show his support for their situation.