AROUND 50 local jobs are understood to have been lost after the owner of two major hotels in the Loch Lomond area collapsed.

Specialist Leisure Group (SLG) owned the Tarbet Hotel, overlooking Loch Lomond, and the Claymore Hotel in nearby Arrochar, on the shore of Loch Long, both of which were operated under the Bay Hotels brand.

Both hotels have been closed with immediate effect.

SLG entered administration on Friday with the loss of around 2,400 jobs, while more than 64,000 holiday bookings have been cancelled.

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One former employee told the Advertiser she was "still in a state of shock" after being informed of the group's collapse.

The company also sold holidays and other travel arrangements under the Shearings, National Holidays, UKBreakaways.com, Coast & Country Hotels, Country Living Hotels, Caledonian Travel, Wallace Arnold Travel and SportingBreaks.com brands, all of which have ceased to trade.

All the brands' websites, along with those of individual hotels, redirect to a statement from SLG's administrators, S.J. Woodward and C.P. Dempster, which blames the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic for the group's collapse and says: "All hotels trading as Bay Hotels, Coast & Country Hotels and Country Living Hotels will not reopen."

The statement also includes a link to a full list of the hotels which have ceased to trade.

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That list mentions the Tarbet Hotel, but not the Claymore.

However, on the Claymore Hotel's Facebook page a statement on the collapse of the Shearings brand was shared at around 6.30pm on Friday, along with a comment saying: "Needless to say we are all devastated, but we thank each and everyone of our guests for your support over the years."

SLG chief executive Richard Calvert said: "The effects of Covid-19 on our 117-year-old company and the wider travel industry have been devastating.

"In the most trying of circumstances, over these past few months, we have fought tooth and nail to save the group and the jobs of our 2,400 loyal employees serving over 1.1 million customers annually.

"It is heart-breaking that the required funding or investment could not be secured to get us through this unprecedented crisis in order to save SLG and our amazing travel brands."

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