Darren Conner and Jayne Stubbs paid £150 in a deposit to hire the Towngate Inn in Market Deeping for a buffet, disco and reserved hotel rooms for Saturday, August 2.

But on Monday electrics manager Darren, 33, was horrified when he turned up at the pub in Towngate East to find the place "locked up until further notice". He had decided to call by after hearing rumours that it had closed.

A tradesman on site told him the Towngate was being sold and gave him the number of an agent handling the deal.

One phone call later and Darren was shellshocked after being told the earliest the pub and hotel could open would be Friday, August 8 – six days after the wedding.

Darren, of Airedale Road, Stamford, is furious nobody called to let the couple know the reception was off.

He said: "The deposit has been lost but what's even more galling and downright outrageous is the fact nobody bothered to contact us. We could have all turned up on the day expecting to go there."

The couple, who sent out 150 invitations, have spent this week frantically phoning guests, many of whom are due to travel from Scotland.

Bride-to-be Jayne, a teacher at Oakham Primary School, said the couple had to act swiftly to ensure a great party would be had by all.

She said: "Darren phoned me at work and asked me if I was sitting down. Then he told me what had happened.
"I'm lucky because Darren is not the sort of person to panic about things. But I was panicking about the availability of a place in the middle of August and things were up in the air."

Since finding out their venue was closed Darren and Jayne, 34, have been frantically re-arranging their wedding plans.

Fortunately the Old Coach House in Market Deeping is to host their big day and the couple say they have a found a "cracking" venue.

Darrell Cox, who was Towngate Inn manager when the booking was made two months ago, said he only found out about the closure on Thursday, July 17, when owner, John O'Gara, called to say staff would be made redundant.

Mr Cox said he had now made contact with Darren to try to resolve the situation.

He said: "The place has been sold and they're waiting for the new owners to take over. I was just the manager and now I've been made unemployed."

The Mercury was unable to speak to Mr O'Gara, who is based in Ireland.