Pia Bang firm had €775,756 deficit

BANCASTLE LTD, the company behind the Pia Bang home furnishings shop on Dublin’s South Anne Street, had a deficit of €775,756 when it went into liquidation, according to a statement of affairs from May of this year, when a liquidator was appointed

The company operated a long-running clothing outlet on Dublin’s Grafton Street, before switching location and content in 2005. The statement of affairs shows that Ms Bang and her husband, Jeff Stokes, who were unsecured creditors, were the largest creditors, being owed €428,000.

The next largest unsecured creditor was Allied Irish Banks, which was owed €100,000.

The company had assets of €5,653, comprising €633 in the bank, debtors of €1,200, stock of €2,800 and fittings of €1,000. There were no secured creditors.

Preferential creditors were the Revenue, at €29,926, and Dublin Corporation at €18,000. The Revenue was also listed as an unsecured creditor, owed €63,515.

Irish Estates Management was owed €77,334 and Allied Irish Leasing €30,096. Other creditors were: Clarke Co – €16,824; Cinnamon – €3,448; Hutchinson 3G Ireland – €12,000; and Denis McSweeney solicitors – €4,131.

Speaking to The Irish Times on the day liquidator Eamonn Leahy was appointed, Ms Bang said landlords need to come to “feasible arrangements” with retailers in order to accommodate the economic downturn.

“We were forced into this because of the downturn and because of rent,” Ms Bang said at the time. “We tried to negotiate the rent down and we tried to see if they would take back and we are trying to sell but the value has dropped to zero.”

Ms Bang said the downturn that hit the retail trade made the rent her company was paying no longer feasible. The building, on South Anne Street, is owned by Irish Life Asset Managers.

“We went to review but they only wanted to talk about the rent going up.”

The November 2008 review led to the rent being increased to €165,000 a year from € 118,000, she said. Now the building is unoccupied.

Ms Bang said landlords should talk to their tenants and come to an arrangement that is feasible “or else you will end up with empty shops everywhere”. She had become the main creditor of the company, arising from the purchase of the lease. Suppliers and staff had been paid off. “We are not letting anybody down.”