Kleen Kleaners at 10 St Mary’s Street appear to have gone to the wall.
When one of our readers was picking up his dry cleaning earlier this week he discovered that none of the staff were working there any longer. He believed that company administrators were running the business meantime, although it now appears however that the story is a little more complicated than that.
The doors of the shop are now firmly closed and the lights are off. There is a notice in the window which shows that Wylie & Bissett have been appointed to the sequestration of The Partnership of Kleen Cleaners on 29 September 2016. Mrs Yasmina Ferrigan or Ely was sequestrated at the beginning of September after a process which has been ongoing since the beginning of this year. It appears that HMRC brought the action against her, suggesting that tax may be owed.
The limited company of Kleen Care Limited was bought in 2007 by Yusuf Ely who told The Edinburgh Reporter he had resigned from the business in 2014 after a divorce from his wife Yasmina. Now according to official records the company is in default as it has not lodged accounts since those made up to 30 April 2013. Mr & Mrs Ely remain company directors according to Companies House, although these records also show that the company has been compulsorily wound up and will be formally dissolved in December 2016.
A separate company called Kleen Kleaners Ltd was only incorporated earlier this year and has not yet had to lodge accounts. This company’s records show that Mr Ely is the sole director, but it is not clear that this company has begun trading.
The independent cleaning company has been in existence since 1947, making it the oldest of its kind in the capital. They are well known for taking excellent care of the most fragile and precious of garments, and also operated a pick up and delivery service to your home or office.
We met one customer outside the shop on St Mary’s Street who was shocked that she was not able to pick up the cleaning she had dropped in on Monday of this week. She told us that her daughter had her wedding dress cleaned here which was one of their specialities.
The dry cleaning firm is one of two in the UK which holds a royal warrant awarded by HM The Queen – Master of the Household, presumably for keeping the royal garments and Holyrood curtains in good order.
In 2014, Kleen Cleaners received the Service Provider of the Year in the Scottish Independent Retail Awards for the second time.
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