Club Rose Bay in Sydney’s eastern suburb has entered into voluntary administration.
According to Australian Securities and Investments Commission documents, the long-standing RSL club appointed Hugh Armenis and Jason Lloyd Porter of SV Partners as administrators on 15 August, before a first meeting with creditors was held on 27 August.
Despite this, the club went ahead with the grand opening of its Italian bistro Villagio on 29 August, before the doors to the club were shut 24 hours later.
“The administrators were continuing to trade the club in an attempt to explore possible scenarios for its future,” SV Partners told Club Management.
“Trading on through the administration period is a fairly common occurrence, as administrators look to explore opportunities to salvage the business.”
However, a “major change” occurred when Simon Cathro and Andrew Blundell of advisory and insolvency firm Cathro & Partners were appointed receivers by a secured creditor, and consequently took control of the club’s assets.
“The receivers closed the club and terminated all staff,” SV Partners said. Approximately, 20 staff were employed by the club on a casual basis.
Co-owner of Villagio Simon Kanan took to social media to speak openly about the closure, stating Villagio was not informed of the financial state that the club was in.
“As far as we’re concerned, everything was going great. We doubled our sales, we built up the customers, everything was going as planned … [but] the club we are in, Club Rose Bay, had financial difficulties, which they didn’t tell us. We did not know it was that bad, so the administrators came in and closed them down, and now we can’t trade.”
The restaurant however continues to trade as normal at its other club locations including Merrylands Bowling Club, Richmond Club, Club Blacktown, and West Ashfield Leagues Club.
Club Rose Bay’s 2023 financial report showed that in 2022, it was trading at a loss of $350,000. In 2023, that number amounted to just over $40,000.