THE oil and gas downturn has been cited as an Aberdeen hotel has been forced to close its doors with the loss of 20 jobs.
The Highland Hotel, based on Crown Street, had long-running financial difficulties which came to a head over Christmas, an insolvency specialist at accountancy firm French Duncan said.
Its failure underlines the difficulties caused by the collapse in oil prices which took hold in the latter part of 2014 on the wider north-east economy.
Economic sentiment is still in the early stages of its recovery from the shock, which sparked thousands of job cuts in the North Sea oil and gas industry and has also led to small firms in the supply chain going out of business. House prices have fallen in the area.
The 50-bedroom Highland Hotel is owned by Anne and Bill Coffey as a partnership.
Brian Milne, a restructuring partner with French Duncan, was appointed a trustee in the trust deed of the partnership of the hotel on January 7.
He said: “The business has been having problems for some time due to the downturn in the oil industry in Aberdeen which it was heavily dependent upon. The hospitality sector in Aberdeen has been susceptible to the fluctuating oil price and the Highland Hotel has fallen victim to this.”
Mr Milne added: “Staff have been fully paid up to last Wednesday and we will be looking at notice pay and redundancy that will be due to them."
A spokesman for French Duncan said the while the business has closed its doors it may re-open as a hotel if it is sold. However, any new owner may change the use of the property, perhaps into residential accommodation.
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