WILLIAM TINNING and GERRY BRAIDEN
Creditors have been left owed tens of thousands of pounds after the firm behind an exclusive club was put into liquidation.

The Hallion Club opened in Glasgow 16 months ago and tried to attract private members from Scotland's celebrity market, with the promise of exclusivity. But Walter Barratt, the sole director of the limited company which ran the club, has changed the firm's name, sold its assets to another limited company he controls and put the original business into liquidation.

His move came only six months after Edinburgh's Hallion Club, which has no direct connection, was sold off amid rumours of financial difficulties.

The Hallion Club in the centre of Glasgow, situated in a £3m, four-storey Georgian townhouse in Bath Street, remains open, with Mr Barratt at the helm, but an unspecified six-figure sum is owed to creditors.

Begbies Traynor, the UK's largest independent business and restructuring specialist, has been appointed liquidator.

Partner Scott McGregor said: "The company that was operating the Hallion in Glasgow ran into financial difficulties, principally due to an overspend on refurbishment of the building and a less-than-anticipated uptake in membership.

"The company could not continue to trade because of the financial pressures. Rather than let the business go to the wall, it was sold for a substantial sum before it went into liquidation."

Mr McGregor said there was nothing "untoward" in Mr Barratt using another company to buy the assets of the Hallion Club.

The firm which originally owned the Hallion was the Hallion Club (Glasgow). On February 12, its name was changed to Jackson, Robertson, McLeod, Spencer and Brown.

The business and assets of the club were then sold to another company, Hospitality Glasgow, before Jackson, Robertson, McLeod, Spencer and Brown was put into liquidation following an extraordinary meeting on February 26.

Companies House records show Mr Barratt is listed as the sole director of all three named companies.

Accountancy experts said it was not unusual for prominent firms to be renamed when the threat of liquidation loomed.

One creditor, who runs a small firm, told The Herald he had been owed money since 2005 and was now due an estimated £120,000. The man, who asked not to be named, said: "We've no chance of getting that now."

The Hallion in Glasgow, which claims to have around 800 members, boasted Lord of the Rings star Billy Boyd as its highest profile member. Membership required a £150 joining fee and an annual £350 subscription.

Mr Barratt has repeatedly been unavailable for comment.

Previously he was responsible for the complex which included the Kelly Cooper Bar, Quigley's restaurant and the Lowdown nightclub but resigned as a director shortly before it went into receivership. Again, refurbishment costs were cited as the key reason for the financial difficulties.

He then opened Chinawhite's in the same building before selling it to Stefan King, head of the G1 Group, and bought St Jude's, several doors from the Hallion on Bath Street.

The apparent financial difficulties faced by the Hallion Clubs in Glasgow and Edinburgh follow the closure in recent years of two other private members' clubs in Glasgow.

The Royal Scottish Automobile Club, in Blythswood Square, went out of business in 2002 while the Corinthian, in Ingram Street, closed its private members' club in 2003.

However, James Mortimer, a millionaire Glasgow businessman, has sought to reverse the trend. He has opened a private members' club, called 29, in Royal Exchange Square in the city centre.