PRIVATE members' club Otto has closed its doors.

The club, on Union Street, Ryde, was owned by a company called Thomas House, which is subject to an active proposal to strike it off and be dissolved, according to Companies House.

Freeholder of the building, and landlord of the premises, George Cullen, has put a sign on the door saying the Otto Club abandoned the premises without notice.

He told the County Press: "My commercial tenant Joseph Kohn entered into a five-year lease in March 2018, trading as Thomas House, which is now subject to a compulsory strike off from Companies House.

"The business was a private members' club whereby the members paid anything up to £750 for a founder membership, and there were up to 200 members registered."

The business started trading in December 2018 after a refurbishment programme.

Mr Cullen's building also consisting of 13 flats housing 30 tenants. He had on-going concerns about fire safety at the club, and insisted on it being closed until a full fire risk inspection could be carried out.

The club then ceased trading.

Mr Cullen said: "At no point did I or the club's 200 members have any notification of Mr Kohn’s intentions to abandon his business.

"I have decided to speak out as I think it is totally unacceptable that genuine, honest, hardworking people from local businesses have paid large sums of money for founder memberships in return for a so-called exclusive membership in a private members' club.

"I will be ending the lease on December 22 if the rent remains unpaid, ending a 21-month nightmare situation.

"This is sending out a message to other unsuspecting commercial property owners."

Mr Kohn declined to comment while the matter was ongoing.

UPDATE 4pm: This afternoon, Companies House has extended the current accounting period from October 31, 2019, to January 31, 2020. Accounts have not yet been filed, but Thomas House now has until January 31, 2020 to do so. 

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