Directors of company which ran string of Leeds pubs are handed eight-year ban

The Government’s Insolvency Service has imposed the ban on 60-year-old Shaun Fountain and 37-year-old Deborah Fountain – both of Bingley – after the directors failed to keep adequate books and records of their company Fountain’s Choice Limited.

Fountains’ Choice Limited managed a number of pubs solely owned by Mr Fountain in Bradford and Leeds until the company entered into liquidation in November 2013, owing an estimated £213,081.

The company’s pubs in Leeds included The Regent Hotel on Kirkgate, the Three Legs on The Headrow, The Three Horshoes on Otley Road, and the Tommy Wass on Dewsbury Road.

An Insolvency Service spokesman said directors have duty to ensure their companies maintain proper accounting records, adding: “The failure to ensure that adequate books and records of Fountain’s Choice Ltd were preserved and/or delivered up to the liquidator means that it has not been possible to explain the causes of failure of the company or accurately detail the acquisition and disposal of its assets or its financial position at any point in its trading life.

“It has also not been possible to determine the true nature and amount of the directors’ remuneration and whether such payments were treated properly for taxation purposes.

“Furthermore, it was not possible to explain why net funds of £689,300 were transferred to a related company, net funds of £14,979 were transferred to another related company and why £15,214 was transferred to an unidentified bank account.”