EMPLOYEES at a Barrhead pub-restaurant have been left “shocked” after plans to transform it into a funeral parlour were revealed.

Last week, the Barrhead News told how grieving families in the town could soon be able to hold funerals closer to home after plans to open East Renfrewshire’s first crematorium were unveiled.

And a separate application had been lodged to transform The Hurlet, just yards from the proposed crematorium site in Glasgow Road, into a funeral parlour.

READ MORE: Funeral firm bid to open Barrhead's first crematorium

Now one insider at the restaurant has told how staff were not informed about the planning application.

The employee, who asked not to be named, said: “There are more than 20 staff that work here and we are all very concerned – there are people that have worked here for more than 12 years.

“We found out through the newspapers. Our own employer isn’t forthcoming with us.”
The member of staff admitted they have been “on a knife edge” for a while.

“The way the staff have been treated in this place is scandalous. Everyone is on a knife edge because we don’t know about our jobs and for us to see this, it’s bad,” the worker added.

“Basically, we are just a number to them and I’m shocked this is happening because it is a decent restaurant. We all have families to support and our employers won’t tell us anything.”

Bosses at the Hurlet declined to comment when contacted by the News.

Meanwhile, there has been a mixture of reactions to plans for a crematorium to be built on the outskirts of the town.

Vicky Miller thinks the development is a “great idea”.

She said: “I was only saying how big Neilston and Barrhead were getting and how it would benefit from a crematorium. 

“Paisley and the Linn Crematorium are a bit out the way for a lot of people to travel to, and being behind Barrhead Cemetery would be appropriate for a memorial garden.”

However, Liz Campbell believes The Hurlet would be the “wrong venue” for a funeral parlour, adding: “A great idea, but The Hurlet is the wrong venue unless they’re going way back into the field.”

Susie Rodgers was not happy about the plans, and said: “Stop building on our greenspace.”