Darkness falls at Blue Sky

9 June 2020

I was very sorry indeed to learn that Blue Sky Event Hire has decided to close down because of the current crisis. This hard-working Skipton-based business had earned an excellent reputation for supplying equipment to organisers of corporate functions, weddings and festivals, but order levels have quite simply collapsed since the Covid-19 pandemic broke.

“Customers have been cancelling contracts right through until Christmas, and next year will probably be just as challenging,” MD Claire Gains told me.

“So my husband, Nick, and I have sadly decided that now is the time to bring forward our retirement plans. However, I want to stress that we are closing the business in a controlled way, which is obviously better for our personnel and our suppliers. It would be wrong to try and just soldier on against a background of such uncertainty.”

As a result, Blue Sky will be selling its considerable fleet of equipment. For more details contact claire@blueskyeventhire.co.uk. The dedicated team will also be looking for new opportunities and I sincerely hope they find new positions soon.

I fear that there must be many other businesses facing similar difficulties and hard decisions in these troubled times. 

Claire has worked in the hire industry for more than 40 years, initially at her father’s company in the late 1970s. In 1981 she founded the award-winning tool and equipment hirer, Skipton Hire Centres, which was the subject of an MBO in 2016. This enabled her to concentrate on the Blue Sky Event Hire business, which she established in 2009. Claire is also a past Chairman of the HAE.

I wish Claire and Nick all the very best for the future.