Up to 225 jobs under threat as Brooks Haughton timber suppliers closes

Up to 225 jobs at one of Cork’s oldest institutions are on the line after it took management at Brooks Haughton timber suppliers just 10 minutes to tell staff the firm was being wound up.

The major timber and plastering firm — which has been based in Cork for over 200 years and employs 225 staff in 11 locations around the country — is being shut as it is no longer considered financially viable.

Brooks, Heat Merchants, and Tubs and Tiles were placed under the control of High Court-appointed liquidator Kieran Wallace yesterday, after being in examinership since Feb 16, in a bid to find a new owner for the linked companies.

However, while Heat Merchants and Tubs and Tiles have been bought by the Harleston Group — securing 220 of 314 jobs — Brooks has been left on the shelf.

A spokesperson for Mr Wallace told the Irish Examiner there was still “a glimmer of hope, but only a glimmer” that some Brooks jobs could be saved.

As some supplier locations have been operating successfully in recent months, he said the liquidator would in the coming days be keeping a small number open to test the commercial waters.

However, the majority of Brooks jobs will go, he said.

One former worker last night said staff at the Brooks Cork depot at the South Link Road industrial estate were given less than an hour’s pre-warning of the close-of-business meeting.

The worker, who asked not to be named, said two managers and a KPMG representative took just 10 minutes to read through a statement and take questions from people about to lose their livelihoods, before staff were told to immediately pack up their belongings.

The worker claimed they were then escorted off the premises by private security, as the depot had cut its in-house security some months ago in a bid to save money. The worker said: “200 years and then 10 minutes to go. The word loyalty is gone.”

The spokesperson for the liquidator said nobody was escorted off the premises and that security workers were there to shut the building once staff had left.

He also said that while deposits were being taken from the public by sales staff until 4.30pm, this was because management were under the impression it was business as usual.

Once KPMG informed them of the closure, a fact he said was related to them at 4.30pm, management requested a meeting with staff as soon as was possible.

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