good luck benjy.
Unfortunately the good and honest citizens of this country are having to pay the price for all the toe-rags who in the past have flouted the visa rules.
All foreigners from outside the EU are now tarred with the same brush, and YOUR integrity as sponsor does not even come into the equation it seems, on the visitor visa.
Anyway, small world isn't it.
I used to live on Youlton Lane and regularly drank a beer or two down at the Bluebell in Alne.