BOMBSHELL AS XS SUPERBOWL SHUTS

Aug 8 2006 Paisley Daily Express

DEVASTATED staff at Paisley’s XS Superbowl have been left reeling after the popular venue was suddenly shut down after 16 years in the town.

Receivers moved into the Wallneuk Street premises and delivered the bombshell news to the 25 workers who were ordered to get their things and go.

And they were told that they will have to apply to the government’s redundancy fund to claim severance pay owed to them.

The shutters have now come down for the last time on the bowling alley that had been a firm favourite with Buddies of all ages since September 1990.

Financial difficulties facing the owners Allied Leisure forced the business into receivership 18 months ago and time finally ran out for XS on Monday.

Staff burst into tears as receivers from London firm Grant Thornton announced XS would be closing its doors immediately due to massive debts.

One shocked worker Laura Lawson, 25, from Paisley worked at the XS since she was 16.

She said: “I am absolutely gutted that the bowling alley has closed. Twenty-five people have lost their jobs and we are all devastated.

“It was a brilliant place to work and all the staff were really close. This is like losing a member of your family.

“A lot of people had worked there since it first opened and have always been loyal to the company because it was such a good place to be.

“It was also a place used by so many different people in the community. We would regularly have special needs groups in, from the Maxwellton Centre and Kersland School as well as young people from the Kibble.

“Where are they going to go now?”

The receivers’ team of workers quickly set about stripping the venue of any items of value that could be sold off for cash and warned staff not to take any XS property with them.

Laura said: “We had been in receivership for so long we hoped that XS might stay open. But when we came in to work the managers gathered us around and we were told that was the end.

“They said we should get our things and if we took any mementos they would call the police because everything was to be sold to raise money to cover their debts.

“What has happened is just awful and we are very upset about it.”

Former general manager and mum-of-three Carol Ann Montgomery, 40, worked at XS since it opened.

She said: “XS has been a big part of my life for 16 years and I loved my job and the people I worked with. The staff were extremely loyal and very close to each other, which made it a great place to work.

“I knew the business was in trouble but I was still shocked when they finally announced it would be closing. There were a lot of tears that day.”

And Councillor Brian Lawson, whose ward includes XS Superbowl, added: “This is another big loss for Paisley and it leaves very little for young people to do in the town centre.

“I can only hope that a company will come in and take over the building soon.”

Allied Leisure had been struggling with money problems for a number of years.

They went into receivership in 2004 and shut down a number of their operations across the UK, with bowling alleys in Paisley and Falkirk the final two to be closed down.

Receiver David Thurgood of Grant Thornton said: “We have been running the bowling alley since 2004 and made two major attempts to sell the site but no purchaser was brought forward.

“Eventually we could no longer afford to continue running the site because we were starting to make losses and I had to close it down.

“Staff will be paid what they are owed in terms of pay and holiday money and they will have a redundancy pay claim which will be met by the redundancy fund set up by the Department of Trade and Industry.”

There are no signs yet of what will happen to the building, which is owned by Moto International, and has a lease lasting more than 80 years.