​A couple have been left jobless and without a permanent home after a plan to buy their dream pub collapsed.

John Huggins and his partner Sam Riley thought they had a deal in place to buy the Union pub, in Westgate Street.

The pair, of Worcester Street, Gloucester, were preparing to pack up their belongings when they discovered the business hired to handle the move had failed to make any payments on their behalf.

Shortly afterwards they were sent an eviction notice for their home and found themselves unemployed after resigning from their jobs to take over the pub.

John, 30, said he was devastated by the disastrous chain of events.

He said: “We’ve been rocked by it all.

“A couple of weeks ago we were looking forward to moving into our pub and making a fresh start. Now we have nothing. We can’t really believe the speed with which it has all happened.

“We literally have nothing. We don’t know what to do.”

John and Sam, 20, decided to take over the Union more than six months ago.

They hired David Caddick, who runs Matrix Business Solutions, to conduct the negotiations with its brewery owner and secure a bank loan to cover the lease.

Both of them worked in retail, but gave it up for the new job running the pub.

Mr Huggins said: “We handed our notices in so that we’d have a week off to pack up before moving into the new pub.

“Then we got a notice from our letting agents saying we were going to be evicted because we hadn’t paid our last month’s rent.

“Everything has come crashing down around us.”

Mr Caddick has insisted he has done nothing wrong, and had worked hard to get the couple into the pub.

He said a bank refused the duo a loan, making the deal impossible.

He said: “I carried out the work I was asked to do, and it was only when the bank refused a business loan that the deal fell through.”

The couple are aiming to secure a new home and are looking for jobs.

The Union is still trading with different owners.