Single mum loses £35,000 after Sheffield Sustainable Kitchens goes bust

Sheffield Sustainable Kitchens has ceased trading, called in a liquidator and made 15 of its 18 staff redundant. Founder Rob Cole and two others will stay on until the end of the week when they too will go.

A single mum-of-three said she paid the firm a lump sum on March 3 after bosses reassured her it was not in financial difficulties. It was the final balance on a £35,000 kitchen for her Crosspool house. Now she has been left with no money and no kitchen.

She said: “The kitchen was the luxury I had saved for but it's money down the drain. It’s more than a year’s salary for me as a teacher and I can’t get that money again. Now I have a house with no kitchen while we live in rented accommodation.

“They sent me an invoice at the end of February and started hassling me for payment. We asked if they were in financial difficulty due to a high turnover of staff but they said 'no'. I’m cross because I can’t believe they didn’t see it coming. I only found out when their Instagram went down and on Monday the phone was constantly engaged.”

Sheffield Sustainable Kitchens, based on Edgedale Road, Nether Edge, made mid to high-end kitchens using sustainably-sourced materials including parts from railway wagons and school laboratory benches ‘complete with graffiti’.

In 2020 the firm received a boost after it appeared on George Clarke’s Channel 4 series Ugly House To Lovely House.

Rob Cole told The Star he was “devastated” by the decision to close the firm. He did not say how many customers were affected or how much the company owed. He said it was being liquidated due to the value of its assets and would not “rise from the ashes” after an administration process.

Mr Cole said: "I am devastated for our staff, customers and suppliers that we could see no alternative than to enter voluntary liquidation. After 15 years in business, during which we have always striven to operate ethically and sustainably, it’s a huge disappointment to cease trading in this way and we recognise the impact it will have on everyone affected.

"The past few years brought the challenges of Covid, Brexit and more recently the crash of the pound, rising interest rates and the ongoing cost of living crisis, which have caused rapid increases in our costs and unprecedented pressure on sales.

"Despite these difficulties, we saw positive signs in January and confidently predicted a recovery to better performance for spring, but when the sales we expected had not materialised by mid March, we were forced to re-evaluate our position. We considered every possible option and found no other avenue than to enter voluntary liquidation."

Leonard Curtis Recovery was now in control of the business, he added.

"We have sought to inform all our customers and suppliers personally of this news which we know will be as devastating to them as it is to our hard-working staff. We are hugely grateful to our lovely staff team, our contractors and suppliers who have contributed to our vision over the years. We are deeply sorry that some of our customers are impacted by our closure."