Part owner of Ramsgate’s Granville Theatre, Matt Milchard is reported to have treated former staff at his Under One Roof nursery in Woolwich, which went into liquidation at the end last year “ like shit”.
He is said to have failed to pay the pension contributions of over thirty staff for several months prior to the closure of the nursery. I understand that complaints have been made to the Pension Regulator who is now investigating the matter. It is also claimed that he failed to pay wages owed to his staff, some of whom were forced to use food banks to get by.
The parents whose children used the nursery are also believed to have lost fees paid in advance and deposits of £300 they were required to pay Milchard to reserve a place for their child.
I have been told by former staff, who wish to remain anonymous, that Milchard failed to pay the catering company which provided meals for the nursery, and that staff had to dip into their own pockets to buy food to feed the kids – they were eventually reimbursed.
I was sent photographs of a waste bin overflowing with used
nappies which was left unemptied for several weeks during the height of last year’s summer because Milchard had not paid the waste contractor. The smell and the flies were said to have been unbearable.
Whilst the nursey was heading towards financial disaster it is said that Milchard and his family took two lavish overseas holidays, seemingly without a care in the world.
When staff were eventually told about the collapse of the company in November 2023 witness have claimed that he refused to take any responsibility for the failure of his business and that “he played the victim” blaming others for the closure of the nursery.
Milchard is also said by several sources to have cut off all contact with former employees who were desperate to know when the money they were owed would arrive. Apparently his unpaid, pension-lite, former staff were rude and aggressive towards him and endangered his mental health.
According to Companies House website several other Milchard owned companies appear to be in financial trouble and may well be heading for liquidation like his south London nursery. His money troubles might even destabilize the Granville Theatre and could perhaps turn Lovetts “mistaken” sale of the property, late last year, into a reality.
Those of you who have critcised me for publishing my previous articles about Milchard and the Granville Theatre which is your right to do and which I fully respect, should think again.
Ask yourself if Matt Milchard is a fit and proper person to be a part-owner of Ramsgate’s most important cultural asset. On the basis of the evidence I have seen and the things I have been told about by his former staff, I don't belive for one moment that he should part own a theatre in Legoland, let alone in Ramsgate.