should I go to small claims court?

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To cut a very long story short - we paid £400 to a man to host dp's 40th birthday party at his premises - the man cancelled on the day of the party. He says he called it off because we had invited more than 50 guests. We were never told that there would be a limit to the amount of people we could have and were not prepared to have many of our invited guests turned away at the door. This is the main point of dispute though there is a lot of other stuff which I won't go into right now.

We are in negotiations at the moment and I believe he may return half of the money. I am not happy with this but is it worth the hassle taking him to the small claims? I have a 2 and a 4 year old and very little free time to myself to prepare a case. Would it take long? Do I need to see CAB or a lawyer? This man is a friend of a friend and someone I knew quite well anyway so it was all very informal - we have no receipts or anything in writing though we do have witnesses to the money changing hands.
Feeling very angry as we have subsequently heard that he has done this kind of thing before but a bit daunted by going down the legal route.

talk to trading standards first. they will be able to advise you as to the best route of action

i would be tempted to take him to court

With nothing in writing you probably don't have much of a leg to stand on. I would take half the money and put it down to experience. Shitty I know.

He's probably banking on you not taking it any further. For a small claim, you do not need a lawyer and there's no need to go to CAB either. If you go to your local county court, explain what you want to do, they will give you all the relevant forms and an information leaflet explaining the procedure. It's very simple.

Thanks everyone. Did talk to trading standards - they suggested small claims though I am still concerned about the lack of 'proof' for anything we will allege - it is our word against his. He has alluded to this very fact, the b***d. Have a meeting on Thurs with him, with the mutual friend we have in common (who also is a police officer) being the mediator. Am I right though in thinking that if we take the £200 or whatever he is offering now, and pursue him for the rest in court, we will not get anything? People have warned me that accepting some money will prejudice my case but as I am not sure we will win, taking £200 is better than nothing?

Make absolutely sure that you make it clear that you are accepting the £200 as part payment of the money he owes you. Confirm it in writing.

If he pays part of the money, that in itself is proof that some transaction took place.

Thanks Freckle, though looks like we won't even get £200. He cancelled the meeting at short notice (this is the second time) and will not reply to my texts trying to organise another. Hate actually calling him because a) he makes me so angry and b) he is quite unpleasant. Should I just go ahead and take him to court? Someone said I needed to write him a letter saying you have 7 days in which to pay up and if he doesn't, then take him to court. Is that right? I am starting to think that if he doesn't give us ANY of the money back, then he will look very bad in court and hopefully it will go in our favour?

Small claims court is very simple proceedure and you can claim back the cost of taking out the small claim notive as well from him.

On the form you detail the transactions that have taken place so I think it would be better to send him a final warning letter which will demonstrate that you have tried every avenue to get your money back.

Do you have a record of dates on which you spoke to him throughout?

It is still a contract even if it is verbal.

I am keeping a log of all communications we have had - a copy of the letter I sent him, copies of the texts and a rough summary of conversations whenever we speak.

I will text him again now to see if he answers and then I think I will have to hand deliver him a letter asking him to pay up or it goes to court.

I would advise sending him a letter giving him 7 days to pay up the full amount or you will issue proceedings in the county court. This means that he can't wriggle out of paying costs by saying that, if he'd known you were going to issue proceedings, he would have paid up.

He actually called me this morning and made another appointment for us to meet this week. I will go along to see what he has to say. I think I am probably prepared to give him £100 of the the £400 just to save me the hassle, but will not accept anything less. Will keep you posted and thanks for all your help!