Hen parties left hundreds of pounds out of pocket after Butlers in the Buff goes bust
HEN parties were left hundreds of pounds out of pocket last night after Butlers in the Buff went bust.
Owner Stacey Bramhall, 42, has called time on the UK stripping service after 20 years.
She said it had fallen foul of the cost of living crisis and the pandemic.
Stacey said: “It’s absolutely heartbreaking. It’s not what we wanted to happen at all.
“We’ve been doing this for 20 years and I’ve lost my livelihood.
“The business is going through liquidation. It’s a notoriously difficult industry and it costs a lot of money to recruit guys.
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“It’s not your average guy who does this sort of work and after two years closed the cash just wasn’t there.
“During Covid we got no support at all so the business was shut for two and a half years. We got nothing. Now we can’t pay our bills so can’t trade
“Cost of living is definitely part of it as well as Covid and how it killed the events industry. Things have struggled to bounce back since then.”
Among those affected is 41-year-old Nicole Thomson.
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She paid the Bristol-based company £500 for two waiters for her sister’s hen party in the Lake District this weekend.
Nicole discovered the business had gone bust after a naked butler rang her asking if she would pay him in cash to do the job.
She said: “They are an essential part of the party and now they’ve pulled out I don’t know what to do. I feel sorry for them if they have gone bus but I need them to give me a refund.”
Hotelier Lee Cowell, 41, from York, stripped off to do the job himself for a hen party staying at his hotel after his butler was a no-show.
Lee said: “It was so disappointing, they didn’t even have the courtesy to call and tell me nobody was coming.
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“This hen party had paid to stay at my accommodation and their night was going to be ruined without a butler.
“I felt I couldn’t let them down so I stripped down, put on an apron myself and got to it. It definitely wasn’t the worst evening I’ve had.”