Northampton town centre restaurant owes borough council £64,000 in business rates

A report on corporate debt has revealed Chilli Village, in Wellingborough Road, owes the council over £64,000 for business rates, making it the most high-value arrears case on the authority's' to-do list.

It comes as the bosses behind Chilli Village opened a new restaurant, called Medieval Fort, on the Racecourse in Kettering Road earlier this month.The borough council published the report on outstanding money owed to it this month, which revealed it is owed about £19 million from different sources. About £17million of this was "managed debt", meaning a criteria is in place to collect or track it, including £7million of council tax.

However, in the first quarter of 2017, the total money owed for business rates in Northampton had spiked from £2million to £5million.

The report says "anti-avoidance and evasion" work carried out last year resulted in a "sizable" increase in collectible debt from businesses, which could explain the spike in outstanding cash.

The report also shows that that the overall outstanding debts owed to the borough council have increased by £273,000 in the last year.

A Northampton Borough Council spokesman said: “We always endeavour to make a sustainable arrangement with any business behind with their rates payments.

“An arrangement is in place between the council and Chilli Village in order to clear their business rate arrears."

Chilli Village has been contacted for comment.