Townsend says he would seek an injunction but as there is a possible resolution through damages this would not be the best legal avenue to get redress from Bankwest.
“Even though we would say the bank did not have the right to move in in the first place or to appoint a receiver, if that is proven then the whole lot of this is illegal,” he says.
“There are a number of areas we believe the bank and the receivers have acted improperly because we never missed a payment and we never defaulted on the loan.”
Townsend says although the receivers have not told him who the Sando has been sold to he is glad to hear reports that Northeast has bought the pub.
“I am very glad that it is going to a music family, to be honest; if it has to go this way I am so happy that the Save the Sando campaign rang a loud bell and made some people aware that there was a risk of developers getting it,” he says.
“What we set out to achieve was not just rescue it for me but put someone in place to carry on the history and heritage of what the Sando was.
“It’s a bad result for me but it’s the best result we could possibly hope for under the circumstances.”
“It will be a long fight. I am sure the bank will drag it out: they are very rich, they will want to create as much pain as possible and if we look like winning they will want to settle it out of court so nobody knows they lost.”
SmartCompany contacted Bankwest for comment but no response was available before publication.
