A FATHER-OF-FIVE who lost his home and job in one fell swoop has described the nightmare threat of homelessness he and his family now face.
London-based Tom McManus’ life was turned upside down when he lost his job at the O’Neill’s pub in Shepherd’s Bush after 13 years’ service with the company.
The former bar manager was let go in March when owners decided to convert the family-friendly bar into a trendy venue more popular with young professionals.
The Leitrim man has been unable to find a job since then, leaving the young family at the mercy of bailiffs — who are expected to evict them from their home any day now.
“I feel like a failure, like I am totally useless and that this is entirely my fault,” Mr McManus told The Irish Post.
“There is nothing I can do and I feel powerless. I’ve always been working away since I came here in 1988, doing nothing wrong, everyone was happy with me, and suddenly I have been left in this situation, totally abandoned.”
But the 44-year-old believes his family’s situation is about to get even worse.
Once they are evicted from their flat above the former O’Neill’s pub, which they lived in as a part of Mr McManus’ employment contract, their lives will fall into the hands of Hammersmith and Fulham Council.
Social workers will then be tasked with finding the family a home — which could be anywhere in England and could see the children, aged between two and 10, uprooted from their current school, where they are ‘thriving’.
Yet if Mr McManus and his wife, Polish-born Ewelina, refuse to take up the council’s offer, their children will be taken from them and put into care.
“We have told the children that the building is leaking and that is why we are moving,” the Irishman explained.
“We’re just trying to put a brave face on it because it’s horrible to have five children and have no idea which part of the country you could be living in.
“I wouldn’t wish this on anybody. It feels like there’s nothing I can do to protect my own children.”
Mr McManus and his wife have considered all their options — including separating — to try to stay in west London.
But with the Government’s benefit cap restricting the amount of state support they can claim, and Mr McManus unable to find work, they have given up hope.
Their plight has been worsened by the refusal of landlords to deal with them, because they are claiming benefits.
O’Neill’s owners Mitchells & Butlers did tell Mr McManus that he could apply for any vacancies in its 1,600 pubs and restaurants across Britain.
But he has been unable to find any jobs that would pay ‘well enough’ for him to be able to keep his family in west London, he claims. With the site of the family’s relocation still unconfirmed, Mr McManus has been unable to apply for work outside of the pub chain.
Describing his situation as ‘a torturous limbo’, he and Ewelina have instead decided to wait for Hammersmith and Fulham to tell them where they will be offered a residence.
And while he doesn’t blame the owners of the O’Neill’s chain for his predicament, he is disappointed, after working with them since 2001, that they let him go with so little warning.
He said: “You work your whole life and do your best and then changes like this happen within a big company and people’s lives get turned upside down.”
See More: Homelessness, O'Neills, Shepherd's Bush, Tom McManus
