“Complete incompetence” – Trade union calls for Lovat Hotel boss to “stop hiding”

By Jamie Buchan

February 5 2018, 8:00pm

The Lovat Hotel closed its doors suddenly in late January.

A trade union has called on the boss of Perth’s crisis-hit Lovat Hotel to come out of “hiding”.

Stuart Shearer closed the Glasgow Road establishment without warning at the end of last month.

The 33-year-old has so far refused to return calls and emails from angry staff, guests and wedding parties who have been left in the lurch.

Some workers claim Mr Shearer has fled overseas, as his firm SLE Enterprises prepares to go into liquidation, owing money to – amongst others – Tennents.

Staff turned up for work on Thursday January 25 only to be handed a terse note stating: “Any member of staff in possession of this letter has been made redundant with immediate effect”.

However, other staff who weren’t working that day never received the letter and have still had no formal confirmation about the future of their employment.

Bryan Simpson, of trade union Unite Scotland, urged Mr Shearer to face up to his debts and responsibilities.

“The sudden closure of the hotel – and the loss of jobs – is hard enough to swallow for our hard-working members at the Lovat,” he said.

“However, the complete incompetence of the process has been doubly distressing.

“Despite being told informally by senior managers some of our members haven’t even been given formal written notice of redundancy meaning that they are completely in the dark about their livelihoods and the money they are owed.

“Our message to Stuart Shearer is clear – stop hiding from your staff and pay them what they are due.”

The Courier can reveal that Mr Shearer already has three failed businesses under his belt.

Puffin View Ltd and Castleview East were both dissolved and struck from the Companies House register in 2016.

Mr Shearer was also listed as a director at Food and Drinks Tree Ltd, which was ended in 2013.

In a blog posted on the Lovat Hotel’s still active website, Mrs Shearer’s wife Lucy Smith explained how the pair took over the popular wedding venue.

“It was a basic idea at first,” she said. “We wanted to work for ourselves, no more bosses. We wanted somewhere small, and easy to manage with a little team of staff, as we had no formal experience in owning our own place.”

She said that taking on the Lovat seemed like “far too massive an undertaking”.

“Naturally, I tried vehemently to talk Stuart out of it. But, he is even more stubborn than I am… All Stuart talked about was the hotel. How it needed someone to take care of it, to bring her back to her glory days, and make her a jewel in Perth’s crown again.”

Best Western, which markets the Lovat, are facing growing pressure to give extra support to families who booked weddings at the hotel before it closed.