AN EVICTION notice has been served to the tenant of a long-standing Barrow building.

The Grade-II listed building on Abbey Road, perhaps most known for being home to The Custom House, is being repossessed by its owner it has 'fallen into disrepair' under the current tenant.

The Custom House has been owned by Rob Rollings and his wife since 1999 however the pair have not been directly involved in the business since 2014.

The historic building was rented out by businessman Liam Quigley in 2018 who set out about refurbishing the establishment in a revamp worth up to £100,000.

Extensive work was done on the existing restaurant in the building, which also included a basement function room and another eatery in the form of the One Restaurant

Mr Quigley jettisoned the laser zone that previously existed on the second floor which was instead used as an office for his company, The Coastal Group.

Under his management, Mr Quigley also opened Cherrie’s Cocktail Bar in 2019.

In April 2020, Mr Quigley announced that a number of redundancies had been made at The Custom House due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

In May 2020, Mr Quigley said he collapsed his Custom House company and resigned as its director due to the 'uncertainty' brought on by the coronavirus crisis.

Nearly two years on Mr Rollings has now repossessed the building.

A notice posted to the doors of Custom House by Executive Recoveries and Enforcement on January 19, states: "These premises have today been seized on the authority of the landlord notice is hereby served and forfeiture of lease affected. No unauthorised persons are permitted entry unless with the prior consent and knowledge of executive group or the landlord/managing agent."

A second notice declares that the tenant has until February 2 to take delivery of the goods currently in the building.

Mr Rollings said despite repeated requests for maintenance to the town centre building 'nothing ever got done'.

He said: “We have repossessed the building from the tenant, who has not been in occupancy for a while.

“The building was falling into disrepair and that’s the reason we’ve taken it back.

“Despite repeated requests for maintenance, nothing ever got done. The building was clearly getting into poor condition.

“The tenant had a full maintained lease so had full responsibility for maintaining the building but there was some serious problems.

“We’ve got the repair work to do to make it safe.

“We’ll be looking for new tenants or possibly put it up for sale. We’ll be open to anything. The main thing is that the building is used, we’d like to see it constructively used and maintained."

The Mail attempted to contact Mr Quigley for a comment but received no reply before we went to print.

The Custom House is said to have started life under the name of the Imperial Hotel in 1867 but failed as a business venture and was sold in 1872 - becoming a post office and customs base.

The former social club quickly became a place to have a meal, enjoy refreshments, hold a party for youngsters, or sample lazer-style entertainment, as former Glaxo production director Rob Rollings and his careers adviser wife Zo took over.

By October 2002 the finishing touches were being put to a £180,000 investment in a new Lazer Zone at the Custom House.

In 2002 the venue also had a Net Zone cyber café where you could surf the internet for £3 an hour.

A Mail article in July 2009 noted that the venue had served 500,000 meals since opening on November 28 in 1999.

In 2018, the Custom House, a listed building, received a blue plaque as part of a new heritage trial to mark historic buildings across Barrow.