Pride boss strikes deal after business collapsed

LIQUIDATORS SETTLE FOLLOWING CLOSURE OF FIRM 'OWING MILLIONS'

- JANE HAYNES Politics Editor

A DEAL has been reached between Birmingham club and bar owner and Pride festival director Lawrence Barton and liquidators after a training firm he ran folded with 70 job losses.

The details of the settlement are not being made public, though they will be included in a public report by the liquidator for creditors.

At the centre is the demise of GB Training (UK) Ltd, which closed down in 2020.

The training company has been subject to an investigation amid claims for £8.4 million from organisations including the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) and West Midlands Combined Authority.

Mr Barton expressed relief that a settlement had been reached, saying he was 'happy a line has been drawn'.

He described the last five years as 'the most difficult of his life' but said he has since 'rebuilt, with firms owned by him and his family turning over £10 million last year and employing nearly 100 people, many of them LGBTQ+.