In an amazing turn of events 30 clubs from the Rileys Pool and Snooker chain have today closed with the loss of approximately 200 jobs.
The company had gone into administration and was unable to trade itself out of the troubles, Ernst & Young were brought in to act as Administrators and a deal for 129 of the 159 clubs was struck with Valiant Sports Ltd.
The remaining 30 clubs have closed today with immediate effect.
The official press release is below:
Valiant Sports Limited has acquired 129 Rileys clubs across the UK and for members at these clubs it is business as usual.
However, 30 clubs as listed below have ceased trading immediately.
If your regular club is one of those closed then you will be eligible for a free one year extension to your current valid membership.
Please note that your membership gives you access to any of our clubs across the United Kingdom.
To find your nearest club please use our club finder.
If you have organised an event at one of the closed clubs please contact us immediately and we will seek to re-arrange. You can contact us via our contact page or you can write to us at Rileys, 8 Clarendon Drive, Wymbush, Milton Keynes, Bucks, MK8 8ED.
Valiant Sports Limited is totally committed to the development of pool and snooker in the UK and to your experience with Rileys.
If you have a cue or any other property held at a closed club, then you can collect on Tuesday the 31st of March between 3pm and 5pm, when a member of staff will be in attendance.
Closed clubs
Blackburn Bracknell Burnley Clapham Debden Dundee Glasgow (Victoria Rd) Hartlepool Hounslow Lancaster Long Eaton Luton (Club Snooker) Luton Leagrave Rd Northampton Derngate Nuneaton Oxford Colours Penicuik Peterborough Eastfield Rd Rainham Rotherham (Kimberworth Rd) Rotherham Doncaster Gate Rugeley Scarborough St Albans Stanford-Le-Hope Stoke Fenton Stretford Sutton Coldfield Wakefield Weston
what a shock, what a shame
well thats our pool team down the pan.A bit of notice that this might of been happening would of been nice.Could of made alternative arrangements if known.I now have little time to find a venue before next match.
I think it will cause a problem for a number of leagues and teams both for snooker and pool. Especially with the push they had recently made with the ‘Bring your pool team to our club’ promotion. Will be interesting to see if the remaining 30 clubs and assets get purchased.
Wat a shame? what abo ut those job losses? Any arrangments to relocate those jobs to another clubs would be nice.
[...] bookmarks tagged valiantHigh-resolution maps of Copenhagen – good website. CueSport TV – The Blog » 129 Rileys Clubs Bought … saved by 21 others KAMInoYAMI bookmarked on 04/15/09 | [...]
Guys what a shane i see from you all and that is great, but Rileys new about this from the day they bought Rileys that they where going to close thease clubs but still went out and got all the new members for the club that where to close in same clubs brought in over 1000 new members at £7 ago then close them NOT RIGHT. As for the way the area managers talk to the managers of the clubs is so out of order which has lead to two top managers with over 20 years now not working for Rileys now that is a loss.On top of that the staff at Rileys HO new and where work to off load clubs since the start of the new year. The new club ye-right paid 3 million for Riley with £660k for all the fitting and fixtures in side the 30 clubs that closed. All with out going on the new rileys so called company have drop the closed club right in the shit.
As one of the creditors left with massive debts at the sudden closure of Rileys I would be interested if other creditors, printers, landlords etc. would like to contact me on my email marieboullemier@aol.com as I believe these pre-pack administrations are underhand and need investigating by the government