A LUXURY hotel group is under fire for pressing ahead with redundancies after securing millions of pounds in loans.

Manorview Hotels & Leisure Group, which operates hotels around Glasgow such as Boclair House and The Busby Hotel, has placed nine staff at its Innishmohr and Centrepoint development in Coatbridge at risk of redundancy.

The move comes after the company secured £3.25m in loans from Barclays to help it through the pandemic, as The Herald reported in May.

The company also secured a £2.85m loan earlier in the year to fund the renovation of the Redhurst Hotel in Giffnock.

Lori, who is a bar supervisor at the Innishmohr in Coatbridge, is one of the employees who could lose her job.

She fears that those who have been placed at risk of redundancy may have been targeted because they are active trade union members – but Manorview denies this.

She said: “It feels like this has been targeted at specific people, I know it’s been bad times with redundancies being made.

“Myself and my colleague led the two big grievances with the company before coronavirus – but all we were doing was fighting for workers’ rights. It feels like we haven’t been treated the same since.”

Manorview has rejected claims that staff active in unions were targeted.

A spokesperson said: “We refute the claims that some of the staff at risk of redundancy have been selected on the basis of their trade union membership.

“In fact, active Union members at the risk of redundancy have retained their jobs. “We have carried out this redundancy process in a fair and meaningful way and will continue to do so.”

Lori also voiced her concerns about the future of the hospitality industry.

She said: “Just now, we need unions more than anything. I’m concerned that a lot of companies won’t listen to unions.

“Hospitality is a great career for students and I’m worried people won’t see it as a job to get into.

“I’m a student and hospitality is great because it’s flexible. I’m worried about things coming up and I won’t be able to rely on a hospitality job anymore.”

David Tracey, managing director of Manorview Hotel Group, said: “Recently we made the difficult decision to reduce our workforce as the business continues to feel the impacts from the Covid-19 pandemic, which has become more devastating and long-lasting than anyone could have predicted.

“It is with great regret that we have had to place nine of our 450 employees at risk of redundancy.

“All nine staff work at our Innishmohr and Centrepoint development in Coatbridge, which specialises in late-night entertainment and live music.

“We sadly had to make the decision to close this complex.

“Our hope was that business levels would improve enough for us to be able to avoid the need for redundancies.

“But due to the nature of the venue we simply do not know when we will be able to operate as there is so much uncertainty around when live music and nightclub venues will be able to open again.

“Our aim throughout this process is to use the funding available to us to protect the retention of as many jobs as possible and safeguard the long-term outlook of the business during this crisis.”

Bryan Simpson, Unite Hospitality’s industrial organiser, hit out fiercely at Manorview.

He said: “The way our leading activists at Manorview have been treated by their employer during this pandemic has been nothing short of a disgrace.

“They have revoked their previous commitment to pay four weeks’ enhanced redundancy package, so our members will now leave with the legal minimum for years of loyal work.

“All from a company which has taken over £6m in loans and hundreds of thousands in furlough money supposedly to retain staff."