S&N sues London poker bar owners over loan

S&N is suing the owners of a London bar famous for trying to prove poker was a game of skill over a £45,000 loan

Scottish & Newcastle (S&N) is suing the owners of a London bar famous for trying to prove poker was a game of skill over a £45,000 loan.

The brewer is taking two directors of the Gutshot - Barry Martin and Derek Kelly - to the High Court in a row over a loan issued in March 2004.

Gutshot, which ran the Shots Bar and Restaurant in Clerkenwell Road, London hit the headlines in January last year for challenging the need to have a permit to host poker games.

Kelly argued that a licence was not needed because poker is a game of skill, which made it exempt under the 1968 Act but the jury ruled against him.

According to a High Court writ, S&N lent them £45,000 for the premises in March 2004, with interest at 5% over base rates.

The writ alleges that the two businessman personally guaranteed to repay the loan if their company failed to. The Gutshot was wound up in the High Court on 25 April 2007.

S&N is also suing the two directors for £7,421 for a 212.05 shortfall in the agreed barrelage target.

The two men face a total claim for £55,527 plus interest.