Photo and cleaning firm cuts jobs

Klick has 197 stores throughout the UK

The Scottish dry cleaning and photo processing company Bowie Castlebank Group has gone into administration with the loss of 817 jobs.

The firm owns Klick Photopoint, Max Spielman and William Munro Cleaners.

It employs 1,664 people in its network of 314 shops, a processing centre in Wishaw, head office in Glasgow and a warehouse in Chester.

Customers with photos at Klick or Max Spielman, and clothes at Munro's, are advised to collect them immediately.

There are 197 Klick stores and 117 Max Spielman branches throughout the UK.

About 60 of the Klick stores also provide Munro Cleaners services. All of the Munro outlets are based in Scotland.

It is with regret that we have had to make substantial redundancies across Bowie Castlebank's operations Blair Nimmo Administrator

Blair Nimmo and Tony Friar of KPMG Restructuring were appointed as joint administrators of Bowie Castlebank Group, which includes Alexander Kennedy & Sons Ltd, on Tuesday, at the request of the company's directors.

Bowie Castlebank said that it had suffered "significant losses in recent years" due to the advance of digital photography.

It said its dry cleaning firm, Munro, had also experienced reduced levels of business.

The firm said it had unsuccessfully explored several opportunities to restructure or refinance.

Mr Nimmo, said: "It is with regret that we have had to make substantial redundancies across Bowie Castlebank's operations.

"We are currently working with government agencies to ensure the employees' issues are dealt with as quickly as possible.

"At the same time we are marketing the business in an attempt to secure a sale of some of the group's stores or operations as a going concern.

"Any interested parties should contact the joint administrators as soon as possible."