ONE of Glasgow's oldest family bakers is on the brink of administration as it battles mounting debts.
Bradfords, which also owns the Miss Cranston’s brand of shops and tearooms, has one week to pull the company back from liquidation after HM Revenue and Customs lodged a petition at Paisley Sheriff Court.
The 87-year-old firm is the latest High Street chain to suffer problems in the downturn. Yesterday, The Herald reported that part of upmarket delicatessen Peckham’s is going into administration with the closure of three Peckhams & Rye outlets in Lenzie, Newton Mearns and Edinburgh.
HR Bradford (Bakers) Ltd issued notice yesterday that the taxman had lodged the petition with the court on June 24, calling on the business to be wound down and a liquidator appointed. It came after the closure of one of their best-known branches, Miss Cranston’s Tearoom, in the city’s Gordon Street.
Creditors have now been urged to submit any claims against Bradfords before July 22, although the company’s director, Claire Bradford, is believed to be confident the chain can avoid administration.
The firm has 13 shops and tearooms in and around Glasgow and a branch in Troon, South Ayrshire. It not clear how many people work for the company.
Founder Hugh Bradford’s granddaughter-in-law Helen Bradford and great-granddaughter Claire now run the firm.
In 1998, it launched Miss Cranston’s Tearooms, a once-famous Glasgow brand originally founded in 1878 by Kate Cranston but which had disappeared from the city during the 1950s.
The firm’s flagship store in Sauchiehall Street boasts the title of the UK’s largest artisan bakers shop. The three-storey building occupies the premises of a former department store with the bakery shop on the ground floor, a confectioner’s and celebration cake service on the first floor, and its tearoom on the second floor.
Bradfords’s troubles emerged as accountants KPMG reported that corporate insolvencies in Scotland had risen by 17% during April to June, compared to the first quarter of 2011. Over the same period the number of liquidations increased by 24%.
However, Blair Nimmo, head of restructuring for KPMG in Scotland, said the situation was not as bleak as it appeared.
He said: “2011 has in general been much quieter for corporate restructuring than 2010 and we have found the trading performance of some previously underperforming businesses has been improving. Also, despite the common view to the contrary, even in certain distressed situations, new funding can be found.”
A report earlier this month by accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) warned Scotland’s high streets were being worst-hit by the recession. It found an average of seven businesses a week had closed in Scotland since the beginning of the year, with closures outstripping new openings by 161 to 131 compared to the UK as a whole, which recorded a slight growth.
However, among the retailers bucking the trend north of the Border was bakery chain Greggs, which has opened five new stores in Scotland this year.
The Herald contacted Bradfords for a comment, but it did not provide a response.
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