FORMER employees of a popular Oakham café have spoken out saying they are being denied wages by its owners – with some alleging they are now 'in deep financial trouble' because of the missing money.

Oakham Nub News has been told 19 people who have worked at Stray's Coffee on the town's High Street are claiming unpaid wages, dating as far back as January this year.

The Oakham venue is one of several operated by siblings Matthew Short, 50, and his sister Elizabeth Mack, 49. The company's origins go back to a family baking business in Newark and Matthew first started making coffee in Stamford in 2000. As well as a café in Stamford and the one in Oakham, the Strays brand encompasses businesses in Market Harborough and Newark.

Strays appears to have a complicated administrative structure with three active limited companies relating to its premises in Oakham, Newark and Market Harborough. They operate from a registered office on Main Street in the village of Welby, near Grantham.

A previous company Strays Oakham Ltd, which previously operated under the name Strays HoldCo1 Ltd, was dissolved in January last year after trading for almost two years. It did not file any company accounts. Previous names of Strays of Market Harborough include Strays of West Bridgeford Ltd and Strays of Lincoln Ltd.

Mr Short is a director of several companies under the Strays brand, but Ms Mack has resigned her posts with them according to Companies House. Both brother and sister are personally featured on the main Strays website, with personal anecdotes about their history with the companies.

The company website says that since the duo started their business they have 'developed a superstar team, who make the business what it is today'.

However, disgruntled former employees appear to differ that the company delivers a great team ethos and they have spoken out this week.

One ex-employee, Ellie Davies, told Oakham Nub News: "I am one of 19 former employees that the company refuses to pay for months of work. Their business practices have left many local workers in deep financial trouble, making it hard to support our families."

Ellie added: "This business does not do this wonderful town justice and I hope one day it can be replaced with a company who do much more for the community it serves."

Two other former employees, Lauren Hicks and Kyra Edwards-West have confirmed their disappointment with the money and allege they are also owed money.

Kyra says she is owed £600, dating back to when she left in January 2022 and added: "After leaving the company, in January I emailed Mat and his HR team multiple times to find out when I would be paid. I got the constant excuse of 'banks are busy on pay day' or 'it's my day off'.

"When I voiced my concerns about not being able to pay my bills and being left in debt, Mat's response was 'don't be under any illusion you'll get paid."

The disgruntled former staff members say they have called in the arbitration service ACAS to negotiate on their behalf but to date no progress has been made towards resolving the situation.

Nub News attempted to contact Mr Short and Ms Mack and the company but had no response prior to publication. However, since our story was published, Nub News has been contacted by Strays' financial director Jane Gray, 70, who is also based at the office in Welby, though she briefly left the companies between April 2020 and December 2021. Ms Gray is currently a director of the existing businesses.

Nub News understands that the Strays brand may be being renamed as Langurra, linked to Langurra Trading, a company incorporated in April this year amd also based in Welby with Ms Gray as sales director and Ms Mack as operations manager.

Ms Gray has been invited to comment on the allegations made against the companies she is associated with and we will be pleased to publish her full response.