Dozens of pictures of acting stars who graced the boards of Brighton’s Theatre Royal have gone missing from the bar next door.
The Colonnade Bar in New Road closed last June after Ambassador Theatre Group (ATG) took back the lease from Golden Lion Group.
It reopened in December – but returning customers noticed the pictures, which used to hang on the back wall and above the bar – were not there.
ATG says the pictures had gone when they took back possession of the pub.
When asked what happened to them, David Day, who owns the Golden Lion Group, told Brighton and Hove News: “Go f*** yourself darling.”
A spokesperson for ATG said: “The particular photos in question were removed before the pub was handed back to the theatre in June 2023.
“In general though, photos and memorabilia that reflect the pub’s history will continue to be a part of the décor going forward.”
When ATG took back the Colonnade Bar, ATG had had the lease on it for 35 years.
The pictures included stars of yesteryear including Carmen Silvera, George Cole, Lionel Blair, Judy Garland, Penelope Keith, Kate O’Mara, Diana Dors, Barbara Windsor, Bernard Cribbins and Laurence Olivier.
It’s not clear who owned them.
ATG has started putting new signed cast pictures on the wall to replace them, including the cast of its recent productions of Oliver! and And Then There Were None.
Mr Day, whose other pubs include Libation, Hove Place, The Cricketers, The Plough, Ladies Mile and The Longman, asked how old the reporter was and demanded someone come and see him in person.
When told this would not be possible, he said: “You can put down what you want. Your story does not mean a thing to me.
“Go f*** yourself darling.”
When ATG first told Golden Lion Group it was intending to take back the lease, the bar’s Facebook page announced the bar was closing.
However, ATG said the only changes to the interior it wanted to make would be putting in a new door leading directly into the theatre, removing a dropped ceiling and possibly changing the carpet.
The bar closed for about six months while the theatre itself was also being renovated.
“Bernard Cribbins and Laurence Olivier.” Lol.
All of his pubs are crap.
Incoming on ebay and FB Marketplece.. keep your eyes peeled
No excuse for a responsible human being to come up with that foul mouthed response. Too many arrogant, substandard people in modern Britain
Most if not all the photos in the collonade where collect by phill and Stuart Grainger, when they owned the pub they were signed to Phil and Stuart, we left on the walls because David Land the previous owner of the theatre asked us to, it’s such a pity that dave day decided to take them down .
Sounds like a Police investigation is needed.
GL bought fixtures and fittings when they leased the pub 30 odd years ago. ATG did not.
It’s one thing if you don’t like Dave Day, but let’s not all run on the assumption he’s grotesquely stupid…
For taking your own property? He bought fixtures and fittings when he took the pub on 30 years aho. Long before ATG got involved.
ATG did NOT buy fixtures and fittings when the lease ended. They got left some operational stuff, but they didn’t ask for, or pay for, any of the decor or trinkets. In fact they ripped a fair bit of what was left out, during their refurb… Makes for a less exciting reading though, that, so it isn’t talked about of course.
Hi lyndon, dave is completely in his rights to take anything from the collonade, people don’t want to understand the way a lease works, when dave bought this of the receiver it includes the lease and fixtures and fittings, the people we sold it to when up the shoot, when the theatre sold it didn’t change daves lease, when they terminated dave lease at the end of the term, fine ,but they should have bought the fixtures and fittings, that’s how it works, I am sorry that the theatre went about this way, it leaves a very bad feeling just over a few thousand pounds, it all about treating people with respect
Hi Stuart, hope you’re well!
In fairness when GL bought the pub, it was with fixtures and fittings included. ATG neither asked, nor paid, for anything beyond a few operational bits like fridges, cellar cooling etc.
Had they been a little more compassionate and considerate during the last 18 months of our lease, I’m sure they’d have got whatever they needed. Unfortunately they weren’t, and the ill feeling between pretty much anyone related to the bar and ATG was palpable. There was zero interest on our end to do anything to help them relaunch, considering how they’d dealt with us to that point. To be brutally honest if Dave didn’t want to keep the decor and trinkets, I’d have given them away. I certainly wouldn’t have left them for ATG.
Leased, rather than bought. It’s late. Haha.
Hi Stuart, it’s Sue, Les Leeson’s daughter I hope your keeping well. I was only talking about you and Phil the other day with regard to the boneless whole brisket you used to buy in for salt beef sandwiches and the boxes of oysters and the wonderful atmosphere of the place.
Hi Sue , really nice to hear from you, hope you’re keeping well, yes salt beef, love it, went in the collonade a few weeks ago, not I’m not impressed, no food, how they think they can run a bar without food in this day and age , the reason David Land leased the pub out he want the collonade to be a landmark pub, in a lot of way we did that making it a destination for actors in Brighton, I still miss that pub, so happ to hear from you 😀 😊 Stuart
WHEN BOOTS HAD THEIR WALL MAKEOVER ON QUEENS ROAD A FEW YEARS AGO THE LIGHT FINGERED BUILDERS NICKED THE PICTURE OF HELL’S ANGELS , A GIFT FROM THE BRIGHTON FILM SOCIETY
If I was a Brighton local who frequented any of Mr Day’s pubs, I certainly wouldn’t now. I would not want to line the pockets of a twat with an attitude like his.
That bar owner sounds utterly disgusting with zero respect or affection for this beautiful bar and its customers . Shame on ATG whose theatres I wont visit until he is sacked and the photos restored , What was the point of spending millions on a restoration if you destroy the magic and history of this beautiful place ? He sounds a total philistine and to tell a reporter to “f..ck off darling “ is sickening
Tell me you’ve no idea what’s happened without telling me you’ve no idea what’s happened…
To spell it out to you:
Dave Day operated the pub for 30 years. He owned the photographs. When the lease wasn’t renewed by ATG, and ATG generally treated us like shit during that process, Dave kept the photos.
Right. Want to try again now you have a basic grasp on it? Jesus Christ.
Crybaby. Your pubs are all crap.
So crap I’m confident I earnt markedly more than some basement dwelling keyboard warrior whilst running one for nearly a decade. 😘
OK Little Lord Fauntleroy
It’s amazing how the most Ill-informed have the most to say about anything.
You do realise that it was golden lion group that took the photos, why are you angry at atg about something someone else did, also it wasn’t atg who swore at the reporter that was Mr Day
When you last moved home, did you leave your pictures on the wall?
Didn’t think so.
David Day ran the bar before ATG (who own the theatre) took over management of the bar as part of the refurbishment, something Day was always publicly bitter about from Day 1 and has spent his time spreading unfounded rubbish about the new management like an angry teenager.
If you want to boycott David Day, he also manages Libation, Hove Place, The Cricketers, The Plough, Ladies Mile and The Longman, which as I previously said they are all crap pubs so you won’t be missing much anyway.
He should be investigated for theft of the theatre’s property and spanked for being a naughty sod.
Except it wasn’t the theatre’s property, you tit.
And no, Dave Day and GL as a group didn’t make a peep about the closure.
The staff at the pub did. Because we were being made redundant. ATG were disingenuous at best during the last two years of the lease. They basically did nothing to help clarify the situation, waited until the last possible minute to make anything official or put a date on it, made zero attempt to offer staff new roles; actively denying they had a responsibility to, until threatened with legal action, then offered jobs with zero security or assurance they’d be retained past a couple of weeks once the PR went quiet, they also boarded up the entire front of the business for the past 6 months we traded, with zero compensation for lost earnings and were generally unpleasant to deal with through the whole process.
Damn right we moaned and were “petulant”. In fairness it did wonders to drive business through what would otherwise have been an untradeable period with the business entirely obscured by work we weren’t compensated for. If that extra business gave my staff breathing space to find new roles, then it was entirely worth doing. Instead of sitting on forums anonymously talking utter tosh, perhaps engage your brain in a bit of critical thinking, or stick to subjects on which you have at least the vaguest background knowledge. Jesus wept.
Well done Mr Day, spot on! All these people complaining have zero idea what actually went on!
You have the backing of the Brighton Hospitality Industry, we workers are behind you and your team 100%.
well, that’s blown back on ’em and only tarnishes the gelded lion brand further.
the deliberate misinformation and preening petulance displayed when the lease ended
might be understandable from the maned named one’s viewpoint,
as any ‘goodwill’ must’ve vanished,
but stripping the bar of its history isn’t excusable
– did atg not check the inventory and enquire,
or even offer cash poundnotes (even if in plain brown wrapper) to ensure it was in place?
quite honestly, not surprised any even intrepid reporter would take up the offer / demand.
no one deserves the reply given.
much as i enjoyed the old colonnade, i went there for the bar and ambience,
not the leaseholder.
the revamped colonnade was looking a tad spartan when first opened the other week,
but very friendly and will get my custom.
i did ask about the tophat’n’suited mannequin who lived in
– i hope he’ll be returning on display and hasn’t Bern ‘alf-inched as well…
Why should he? It’s his property? He didn’t leave behind the beer, or the tills, or anything else he owned? ATG didn’t offer to buy the business’ “fixtures and fittings” so they got left with basically anything GL didn’t want.
Exactly as you’d expect literally another other business to operate.
I blame Brexit
People seem more upset at the way Day spoke to the reporter than the actual facts of the story. No idea who Lyndon B is but what he’s posted seems entirely reasonable and understandable. I’d hope that the journalist who wrote the article goes back to ATG with Lyndon’s claims and asks them why they’ve behaved in such a way.
In fairness I don’t think ATG complained.
This “newspaper” have made a story out of nothing on a slow day. Probably because some busy body with no idea what happened wrote to a letters column or something sulking the pictures were taken down, with no idea what had happened in the past year or two.
Hi lyndon, dave is completely in his rights to take anything from the collonade, people don’t want to understand the way a lease works, when dave bought this of the receiver it includes the lease and fixtures and fittings, the people we sold it to when up the shoot, when the theatre sold it didn’t change daves lease, when they terminated dave lease at the end of the term, fine ,but they should have bought the fixtures and fittings, that’s how it works, I am sorry that the theatre went about this way, it leaves a very bad feeling just over a few thousand pounds, it all about treating people with respect
Hi Stuart I’m sure I saw an article in the Argus last year in 2023 I think if I have this correct you were managing the bar and had been since 2022 at that time was the Colorado leased by Dave Day (Lion Group )
Apologies the question I asked you above was meant for Lyndon Booker
But may I ask you please when did you lease the bar yourself was it IN1989
and did you have the bar for long was the bar making a loss or did the owners want to sell on ?