Stone Tile Warehouse Maidstone: creditors' meeting 12 August

The company behind The Stone Tile Warehouse, the tile and stone flooring retailer at Acorn Yard on Sutton Road, Langley, has called a meeting of its creditors, the formal first step into a creditors’ voluntary liquidation. A notice in The Gazette, the official public record, published on 4 August, convenes a virtual meeting of the creditors of Southern Adhesives Ltd on Tuesday 12 August at 11.00am under section 100 of the Insolvency Act 1986.

The notice, signed by director Amanda Knowler, names Robert Cooksey of the Oldham insolvency firm Bridgestones as the insolvency practitioner acting in relation to the company. Creditors who want to vote at the meeting must deliver proof of what they are owed to Bridgestones, 2 Cromwell Court, Oldham, OL1 1ET, by 4pm on the business day before the meeting, which falls on Monday 11 August. Bridgestones can be reached on 0161 785 3700 or at mail@bridgestones.co.uk, and the notice says the firm will supply creditors with information about the company’s affairs free of charge before the meeting.

A Sutton Road fixture since 2012

Southern Adhesives Ltd was incorporated on 18 April 2012, according to Companies House, and is registered for floor and wall covering work and the retail of carpets, rugs and wall and floor coverings. Both its registered office and its principal trading address are Acorn Yard, Sutton Road, Langley, ME17 3ND, on the A274 south east of Maidstone.

The public record already carried warning signs. Companies House lists the company’s accounts as overdue, with the accounts made up to 30 April 2024 due by 31 January 2025 and still not filed, and its confirmation statement overdue since April 2025. The register currently shows the company as active but with an active proposal to strike it off. The firm’s website at thestonetilewarehouse.co.uk is now a holding page carrying a “Pardon our dust” message with no products listed.

What a section 100 meeting is

A section 100 meeting is how an insolvent company enters creditors’ voluntary liquidation. The company’s members resolve to wind the company up, and the creditors are then asked to confirm, or replace, the liquidator the company has nominated. It is a voluntary process started by the company itself, not a court winding-up, and nothing in the notice is a finding of wrongdoing against the company or its director. At the 12 August meeting, the Gazette notice says, creditors may also be asked to approve the costs of preparing the statement of affairs and to consider the liquidator’s remuneration. The meeting will be chaired by a director of the company.

Southern Adhesives has not published a statement about the meeting; the Gazette notice is the company’s own announcement, and we will report the outcome of the meeting when the appointment is recorded.

What it means for you

If you have paid a deposit for tiles or stone that has not been delivered, you are likely to be an unsecured creditor of the company, and the meeting is your point of entry into the process. To vote on 12 August you must get your proof of debt to Bridgestones by 4pm on Monday 11 August; you can attend the virtual meeting yourself, appoint someone as your proxy, or nominate the chair to vote on your behalf. Even if you miss the meeting, you can still lodge a claim in the liquidation afterwards, and if you paid by credit card for goods costing more than £100 it is worth asking your card provider about a section 75 claim.

Local trades who supplied the company, from hauliers to subcontractors, are creditors on the same footing and face the same 11 August deadline if they want a vote. Secured creditors must give particulars of their security to vote, unless they surrender it.

The closure would leave a gap in the borough’s home improvement trade, though it is not all one way traffic on the high street: a new Italian restaurant is currently seeking a licence in the town centre, as we reported in our Bella Mia premises licence story.