Shepherd's Bush pub closes suddenly after staff are 'locked out' as 'entire company shuts down'

A Shepherd's Bush pub was forced to close abruptly on Friday (June 30) after its staff were reportedly "locked out" of the building.

The sad news for the Princess Victoria and its staff was revealed after one punter tweeted the pub's Twitter account on Friday asking if they were opening that day.

The Uxbridge Road pub's account replied: "Unfortunately we have been closed down as of 7am this morning and are not open anymore for the foreseeable future."

After the punter replied to say he hoped they were open again "some time soon," the pub account continued: "We doubt it.

"Our entire company has shut down. 80 staff across 3 venues have lost jobs.

"If we do reopen it probably won't be us."

The account added: "We love all our customers but unfortunately there is nothing we can do. We have been locked out."

A longer statement was posted on the Princess Victoria's Facebook page on Friday afternoon (June 30).

It said: "As of today we are unfortunately closed, out of the blue, no one was expecting it but all of our sites across affinity bars and restaurants have been shut down as of 7am this morning and 80 staff have lost their jobs, apologies to any customers wanting to come in but there is nothing we can do.

"And to those who had functions booked and paid for we literally found out at 7am this morning, on behalf of all the staff we are so extremely sorry and we hope there is something we can do for you however our higher ups have decided that we need to close with immediate effect.

"Lots of hard working, dedicated staff have lost their jobs and we we are sorry that we couldn't look after you in the future."

The websites for the Princess Victoria pub and Affinity Bars and Restaurants are no longer working.

The Princess Victoria had described itself as a gastropub and was also known for being a gin palace, with more than 70 different types of gin.

It has a TripAdvisor rating of 4.0 and was previously awarded London County Dining Pub of the Year by Good Pub Guide 2016.

Numerous people said on Twitter they were devastated by the news.

Anna Derbyshire said: "NOOOOOOOO! Gin palace of dreams."

She added: "Many a splendid evening spent in that garden."

Niamh O'Reilly said she was "devastated" and "so so sad".

Others shared messages of condolences with the staff.

Terry S said: "Nooooo! Thank you, PV staff for many fab evenings. So sorry to see you go."

While David TW said: "Awful news, all the best to the staff affected."

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