COUNCILLORS launched a blistering attack on a ‘shambles’ that cost Dudley taxpayers nearly two million pounds.

The failure of Brookes Bar and Bistro, which closed in August 2024, was under scrutiny at the authority’s Audit and Standards Committee where councillors delivered a damning verdict on the project.

Members of the committee at their meeting heard a detailed account from officers on how the bar at Dudley Town Hall was created to be a ‘key player’ in the town’s nightlife but eventually closed after losing £387,700 in its first 18 months.

Councillors queued up to have their say on the Priory Road scheme which had initial construction costs of £1.5m.

Committee chair, Cllr Karl Denning, said: “I find it really strange, most hospitality would have closed after the first year with those massive losses.

“The alarm bells didn’t sound in that first year and the amount is neck-snapping, officers did not tell elected officials and elected officials did not stop the money.

“Losing that much money is shameful on all of us.”

Helen Martin, Dudley’s director of regeneration and enterprise, the department which was in charge of the bar until April 2024, said: “All of the costs and income loss was monitored from day one and reported through all the various different budget areas, we started conversations with commercial at a point when we needed their support.

“Effectively the team manager above it was a quantity surveyor not a caterer who was trying to make it work and make it a success.

“A huge amount of effort went in by a large number of people to try and make this a viable going concern.”

Councillors were  told consultants who were paid a total of £64,000 for advising on a number of council sites, including Brookers Bar, eventually took over running the venue after three managers left.

They heard the consultants ended up designing menus, working behind the bar and in the kitchen as well as analysing costs and coaching staff.

Cllr Shaukat Ali said: “This seems to have been an expensive experiment, it seems there was confusion throughout.

“There was no consistency in terms of what was proposed and how it was going to be delivered.

“It was lots of public money and we are accountable – it needs to be spent in the best possible way, it is the taxpayer who bears the burden of that failure.”

Councillors also expressed frustration that much of the detail was presented to the committee in private to protect commercially sensitive and personal information.

Cllr Shaun Keasey, who runs a successful nightclub business, said: “The whole thing sounds like an utter shambles. I am really disappointed the public will not have the chance to see what went wrong, why it went wrong and who was responsible.”

Cllr Denning was especially critical of the council’s failure to adapt its business plan for the effects of the pandemic of the hospitality industry.

He said: “The business plan was out of date – hospitality was on its bum.

“I like to quote Einstein who said insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”