Clients lose out after Monastery Spa Staffordshire closure
Customers who lost hundreds of pounds after a luxury spa in Staffordshire was forced to close three years ago have been told they will not get their money back.
The family-run Monastery Spa at Hawkesyard Hall, Armitage, near Rugeley, closed in August 2007 after scores of clients had signed up to new membership packages.
Mounting debts saw administrators brought in to wind up the business, which had been running for seven years. The closure came less than a year after husband and wife team Julie and Richard Greenhough invested £800,000 on a makeover and extension to the spa, formerly known as Hawkesyard Hall Spa.
Spa members only discovered the closure when they turned up for pampering days to find a notice on the door stating that the spa’s lease had been terminated.
Now customers who were told back in October 2008 that Mrs Greenhough would be unable to pay any of their cash back because of “insufficient assets” have had their remaining hope dashed.
They have now been informed by the official receiver that they will get no money back from chef Mr Greenhough either.
One of those customers left out of pocket was 56-year-old Jean Sanders, of Lichfield, who paid £200 for membership days before the spa closed.
She said: “I am disappointed at this news but it’s the outcome I expected.”
At the time of the closure Mr Greenhough apologised to customers, who were demanding their money back.
He said: “We are very upset and shocked by what’s happened. Everything we own has gone into that place over the last seven years. We have put our heart and soul into it. Our customers are very dear to us and we have not taken anybody’s money in an underhanded way.”
