Staff made redundant at an Oxford cycle shop that went bust have claims of more than £40,000 against the company.
Eight people were made redundant at Bike Zone in St Michael’s Street when it closed down in November 2024.
Liquidators appointed to wind down the company and sort out its six-figure debts have said employees claims were estimated at £82,687 on the directors’ estimations.
But to date, claims worth £41,987 have been received by liquidators at Milton Keynes-based Opus Restructuring LLP, a new report filed by the liquidators has revealed.
READ MORE: Urgent safety recall for popular children’s toy as 42,000 affected
Of this, £3,252.41 is claimed preferentially via the Redundancy Payments Service and has been paid back to the staff who claimed it.
The liquidation process has generated relatively modest asset realisations compared with the book values.
Stock had a book value of £136,000 but was only expected to raise £5,750, however liquidators have managed to make around £24,000 from this after it went to discount sales and auction.
Meanwhile, also revealed in the latest progress report, cash in Bike Zone’s bank of roughly £22,000 (plus a small additional amount) was transferred into the liquidation estate.
HMRC was estimated to have a secondary preferential claim of £15,961 in the directors’ statement of affairs.
To date, HMRC’s claim has not yet been received, the liquidators have said.
Stuart Meanwell outside The Handlebar Cafe and Bike Zone in 2020 (Image: Ed Nix)
Unsecured claims were estimated at £236,677 when the company was put into liquidation, but to date 14 claims have been received totalling £102,042.
Creditors’ claims have not yet been agreed.
Joint liquidator Colin Wilson said: “Based on current information, it is anticipated that the Liquidation will be concluded within the next three to six months.
“Once all outstanding matters have been finalized the Joint Liquidators will then seek their release from office by issuing their final account to members and creditors.”
Bike Zone owner Stuart Meanwell previously said his business had run up debts trying to survive Covid, government policies and customers shopping online.
The business was opened by the lord mayor of Oxford, Elise Benjamin, in June 2011 and housed Zappi’s Cafe run by Italian cyclist Flavio Zappi.
The cafe later expanded into the guest house next door and became The Handle Bar Cafe and Kitchen.
At the time Mr Meanwell said it was “a 20-year dream of opening a large bike shop in the historic heart of Oxford”.
He also owned Summertown Garden Centre, selling bikes alongside plants for two years before transforming the whole premises into Oxford’s other leading cycle store Summertown Cycles.
Mr Meanwell previously said: “There were some lease issues as well, but that’s too long a story to get a fair telling in a short newspaper article.”
