The sudden closure of a Fife hotel results in 18 job losses

A long-established hotel in Dysart has closed with the loss of 18 jobs.
The Royal Hotel in Dysart closed suddenly last Thursday. Pic: George McLuskie.The Royal Hotel in Dysart closed suddenly last Thursday. Pic: George McLuskie.
The Royal Hotel in Dysart closed suddenly last Thursday. Pic: George McLuskie.

The Royal Hotel in Townhead suddenly shut its doors last Thursday after the owners suffered financial difficulties.

The full and part-time staff were told to finish working immediately as they were being made redundant.

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Owners Catherine and Allan McColl said they have been left homeless and jobless in the wake of the closure.

18 members of staff have been made redundant following the closure. Pic: George McLuskie.18 members of staff have been made redundant following the closure. Pic: George McLuskie.
18 members of staff have been made redundant following the closure. Pic: George McLuskie.

The couple, who ran The Royal Hotel for 13 years, have apologised to their 18 staff, who have been made redundant, and to their customers who have been left out of pocket.

Catherine and Allan claim they have been involved in a dispute with their bank for the past seven years which centres around the terms of a hedging loan the couple took out.

They say they were forced to change the terms of their loan which has resulted in their current financial difficulties.

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Catherine said: “We were just following the advice we had been given from our lawyer. We had a phone call on the Wednesday afternoon to say administrators were coming in the next day.

“We thought they were going to come in and take control of things and help us find a way of paying off the debts. We had been turning the hotel around.

“But instead they just shut us down immediately on the Thursday and told the staff they were being made redundant and that they should go home.

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“If I had known that this was going to happen I would never have taken money and bookings from customers. We were wrongly advised.”

She said they had a function for 102 people on the Friday night – all the food and drinks had been bought in especially - but they were told it could not go ahead. A number of weddings, birthday parties and Dysart Primary School’s leaving prom had also been booked.

Allan said they wanted to thank their customers and friends for their loyalty over the years, adding: “We are victims as well - this was our life. We worked there seven days a week. I am gutted for our staff who were the best and we apologise to them and to our customers for what has happened.”