THE NEW owners of a pub and restaurant complex in Durham plan to lease it off to a company to run en bloc.

Cathedrals, featuring a bistro/caf, two restaurants, a bar and in-house micro-brewery in the city's former police station, was bought earlier this month by local property consortium Partnorth Ltd.

The premises closed recently ten months after last summer's grand opening following a £3.5m investment by former sausage company owner Richard Lazenby. But by December, as debts neared £4m, administrators Tenon Recovery were called in to help to run the business.

Administrator Ian Kings, a director of Tenon Recovery, confirmed the sale went through recently 'for an undisclosed sum.'

Mr Kings said: "We have traded the business for the last six months and I'm delighted that we have successfully achieved a sale, which should secure the long-term future of the complex."

Ken Stewart, an agent acting for Partnorth, said talks were taking place with 'major' companies in the pub/restaurant field to run the entire premises, rather than lease it off piecemeal.

"We are in negotiations with various companies with the intention to lease it off, but we haven't signed any deals yet.

"We are talking with major companies who are interested in taking it on, but the property itself will remain closed until a new tenant is found."

Mr Lazenby ploughed in much of the money he made from the sale of his Teesside-based sausage company to refurbish the Court Lane premises, which had remained derelict in recent years after the opening of a new police station nearby.

But he was beset by delays getting the project off the ground, including a lengthy saga overcoming licence objections.

It was initially planned to have the premises open by Autumn of 2000, but it was not until late July last year that Cathedrals finally began trading.

Despite its trading problems the refurbishment attracted an architectural commendation from the City of Durham Trust.