Abandon Ship bars boss 'devastated' with closure of two sites

Two bars linked to the collapsed MacMerry300 hospitality group have closed with the loss of around 20 jobs.

Unite Hospitality said its members at Abandon Ship bars in Glasgow and London’s Covent Garden had received redundancy notices from owner Phil Donaldson on Monday.

However, the union said just 12 days earlier staff had been assured they would be unaffected by the liquidation of Donaldson’s wider business MacMerry300, which ran 11 bars in Dundee and Glasgow.

Donaldson said the closures had been a difficult decision and the team were doing “everything we can” to keep jobs safe.

He told The Caterer: “In hospitality at the moment sadly nothing is a given. Myself or the business isn’t able to employ people at a pub that is closed. The sector has taken an absolute bashing and we are devastated we have had to close two sites. This is our livelihood as well as the people that are employed by the business we’ve created.”

Bryan Simpson, industrial organiser at Unite Hospitality, said: “Despite reassurances verbally and in writing that 'nothing is changing' for staff at Abandon Ship bars only 12 days ago, Phil Donaldson has just issued redundancy notices to all staff at both sites confirming to me that he has no intention of carrying out a genuine or meaningful consultation with those workers in accordance with well established employment law.

“This is a new low for a company and a former director who continues to run rough shod over the most basic of workers rights.”

Unite said last month that all staff roles at the wider MacMerry300 business were secure and would be re-employed by a new company Belford Ltd, which took over ownership of the bars.

It is understood that most of the assets of MacMerry300 were transferred to Belford Ltd in May prior to the appointment of liquidators.

In January, 71 current and former staff accused MacMerry300 of multiple failings including allegations of a lax attitude to Covid-19 safety and a failure to pay staff on time.

MacMerry300 initially described the claims as "bewildering" but later committed to a full investigation.