Type
Closure
Country
United Kingdom
Region
Location of affected unit(s)
Bristol, Gravesend, Sunderland and Leeds
Sector
Other Services
Other Service Activities
Other Personal Service Activities
96.01 - Washing and (dry-)cleaning of textile and fur products

880 jobs
Number of planned job losses
Job loss
Announcement Date
23 February 2007
Employment effect (start)
23 February 2007
Foreseen end date

Description

About 880 people are to lose their jobs after the closure of a number of firms that provided laundry for hotels.

Four businesses which formed part of the Brooks Service Group went into administration and will now close after buyers could not be found.

The affected sites are in Bristol, Gravesend, Sunderland and Leeds. Talks are on-going about the sale of another operation in Norwood, south London.

Administrator PricewaterhouseCoopers said that one company had been sold on.

The individual businesses hit include Shaws Laundries at Gravesend, which employed 200 people and County Luxdon Laundry in Sunderland where about 140 jobs will go.

The two other laundries in Leeds and Bristol, trading as Brooks, employed 190 and 350 people respectively.

A part of the business which laundered work uniforms and which had bases in Bristol, Bradford and Batley in West Yorkshire was sold to Basingstoke-based Sunlight Service Group Limited last week, safeguarding 150 jobs.

Joint administrator and director at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Rob Lewis, said it was 'very disappointing' that the majority of Brooks' operations had closed.


Sources

  • 23 February 2007: BBC Website

Citation

Eurofound (2007), Brooks Service Group, Closure in United Kingdom, factsheet number 64978, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/64978.