UP to 20 people who work at a Barrow construction firm fear they will lose their jobs after they turned up to work to discover it was closed.

Staff employed at A B Mitchell Developments in Barrow said they arrived at the firm's offices in Roose Road last week and discovered the site was shut.

They have since been told the firm has been taken over and there is some uncertainty among the workforce as to whether or not their jobs are secure.

One employee told the Evening Mail that staff have reportedly been told that if they want to continue working for the firm, they can register their interest with the new boss.

The employee said: "We just turned up that morning, and everything was shut. We didn't have a clue what had happened or whether we still had a job."


A B Mitchell carries out the majority of maintenance and refurbishment work on council houses across Barrow, including installing kitchens and bathrooms, as well as carrying out decorating work.

The council contract is worth a considerable sum, with published accounts showing the council's monthly expenditure revealing the authority has paid as much as £118,087 to A B Mitchell in one month.

A B Mitchell was set up in 2005 by Kendal-based builder Andrew Mitchell. Around 90 per cent of the company's work is generated through contracts with Barrow Borough Council.

Mr Mitchell and Kerry Thornburrow, both of Bank Foot in Kendal, resigned as directors of A B Mitchell Developments on January 13 of last year. On the same date, Jacqueline Webster and David Nichols, who live in Lancaster, were appointed as directors.

The latest accounts for the company, for the year up to October 2015, reveal that the company's net assets - effectively its value based on either the owner's or shareholders' equity, were £444,873. The previous year, the company's net assets were £936,751.

Mr Mitchell, 53, is still listed as an active company director of two other firms - B L Asset Management, registered at his address in Kendal, and HLM Building and Adaptations.

Both Hannah Louise Mitchell, whose date of birth is April 1990 and is understood to be Mr Mitchell's daughter, and Miss Thornburrow, are also directors of HLM Building and Adaptations.

The Evening Mail has made several attempts to contact Mr Mitchell, and Mr Nichols, including leaving messages for the Lancaster businessman and emailing him directly at his cleaning firm, Lara Nichols. Our calls have not been returned.

No-one from Barrow Borough Council was available for comment.