Customers have been refunded for gift vouchers purchased to use in EuroMillions winner Gillian Bayford’s Angus caf as mystery continues to surround its future.
Mrs Bayford’s secretary, Beverley Carter, contacted Sugar and Spice customers to refund gift vouchers by paying the value directly into their bank accounts after they sent a request to the caf email address.
One customer said: “I emailed the address given and Beverley got in touch requesting the voucher number and my bank account details.
“I was surprised how quickly I was refunded when there is so much uncertainty about what is happening.”
Mrs Bayford and the busy caf were thrust into the spotlight after it shut last month due to “unforeseen circumstances” with 21 staff losing their jobs.
Staff on zero hours contract were then offered a £100 payout from Mrs Bayford after being left on the scrapheap following the sudden closure of the High Street tearoom.
Rumours persist that Mrs Bayford may be intending to re-open the eatery with new staff in time for the summer.
Indeed, a new Facebook page for Sugar and Spice has been telling former customers the caf may re-open “in the very near future” although there have been no further updates since that earlier post at the end of last month.
One former staff member said: “The re-opening rumours just won’t go away but who would want to work for her after the way she treated the previous staff?
“I think she’ll also find customers hard to come by folk in Arbroath have long memories and there is a lot of anger about the way she treated the staff.
“The new Facebook site has already been bombarded by posts from people who are not happy at how Mrs Bayford has behaved.
“As I say, people have long memories.”
The Bayfords, pictured, won Britain’s second biggest lottery jackpot of £148.6 million in 2012, but the couple split in 2013, just 15 months after the EuroMillions windfall.
The pair, who have two children, purchased a £6m mansion on a 200-acre estate in Haverhill, Suffolk, before eventually divorcing after nine years of marriage.
Mrs Bayford hails from Carnoustie and her family still live there. She bought a £600,000 five- bedroom house at Kirkton of Auchterhouse in 2013 with Alan Warnock, former sales manager of Audi’s Dundee dealership.
They met when the Bayfords ordered five luxury cars and are now engaged.