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Brisbane Barber slapped with insolvent trading claim over city salon

The one-time owner of a chain of barber shops has been slapped with a lawsuit over his Brisbane CBD salon.

Trent Pridmore in the Emporium Barber show in the Brisbane CBD.
Trent Pridmore in the Emporium Barber show in the Brisbane CBD.

The one-time owner of a chain of barber shops which had been gearing up for nationwide expansion has been slapped with a $640,000 lawsuit alleging he traded his Brisbane CBD salon while insolvent, and that the company racked up losses for six years straight.

Trent Leslie Pridmore, 42, from Carindale, has been sued in the Brisbane District Court by the liquidator of his former company EB02 Pty Ltd, which ran an Emporium Barber salon in Post Office Square on Adelaide St.

The claim alleges Mr Pridmore was a director of EB02 Pty Ltd when it incurred a $387,234 debt to the salon landlord Challenger Life Nominees and a $252,553 debt to the Australian Taxation Office.

It alleges that when the rental and tax debts were incurred by his company, Mr Pridmore was aware that EB02 Pty Ltd was insolvent or would have suspected it was insolvent.

The debts were racked up between April 2016 and when liquidator Terry Van der Velde from SV Partners was appointed as liquidator in May 2020.

The claim alleges that EB02 Pty Ltd was insolvent since July 1, 2015, and it made trading losses for every year until the corporate undertakers took over.

The Emporium Barber salon in King St, Bowen Hills, which is now closed. Picture: Instagram
The Emporium Barber salon in King St, Bowen Hills, which is now closed. Picture: Instagram

The claim alleges it made a $51,768 loss in the June 2015 year, a $49,467 loss in 2016, $137,777 loss in 2017, $31,243 the next year, $33,4089 in 2019 and $102,913 in 2020.

No defence has been filed and no hearing date has been set.

SV Partners declined to comment when approached by The Courier-Mail.

Emporium Barbers once had four salons - in Fortitude Valley, King St, Bowen Hills, Woolloongabba and Sydney’s Bondi Beach - but now only has one on Logan Road in Woolloongabba.

Mr Pridmore started the business a decade ago to provide a luxury grooming experience without the fuss of a salon, offering complimentary coffee or a beer or other drink.

In 2016 he told The Courier-Mail that the Emporium Barber business was gearing up for nationwide expansion, opening the Bondi store in Easter 2016.

Mr Pridmore was contacted for comment.

Originally published as Brisbane Barber slapped with insolvent trading claim over city salon

Original URL: https://www.thechronicle.com.au/news/queensland/brisbane-barber-slapped-with-insolvent-trading-claim-over-city-salon/news-story/2a67d4b5c170eb5f3186171aaa5e50c6