Despite record sales in 2023 and arrears to a number of smaller businesses and our landlord paid back, we ran out of time with money owed to HMRC.
Our accountant could see the ‘writing on the wall’ last Summer, so, after several meetings to establish my thoughts and options, we decided to put Ainsty Ales Ltd into voluntary liquidation, which as you can imagine was devastating for myself, the majority shareholder, after 10 years.
My consolation is that Ainsty Ales had a strong enough brand with a big enough customer base and potential to attract investment.
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In January this year Ainsty Ales Brewery Ltd. was formed with three new, York-based shareholders and a new and very reputable director in Jon Greenwood, a fourth shareholder was later added, and the plan was for me to become the fifth this Summer …. the day to day running and managing of the brewery it was agreed would remain under my control.
From the start of the new setup, I unfortunately became very frustrated with decisions made and started to not look forward to work, something I never thought possible ….. I’d simply lost the Fire in my Belly. I understood that a lot of things needed to change to make the business more profitable but there was also the inevitable personality clash between myself and the new team. I’m a very pragmatic person so I started to think about my options, what was best personally and also financially, I decided to give it three months but unfortunately in my mind nothing changed.
In April I spoke to a good friend who’d I’d worked with for North Yorkshire Police in York. Carl Nickson left NYP before myself to establish the very successful Eboracum Group, I explained my quandary and asked him to confidentially keep his ear to the ground for any opportunities. Carl immediately stated that he’d welcome me the following day! Eboracum is a growing business and the way I work, and my strengths would potentially make us a great fit!
Fast forward a couple of months and I’ve now made the move to Eboracum officially and will be taking up a new position as the ‘Marketing & Business Development Manager’ from the end of June. I’m sure everyone will appreciate that I still feel a great deal of upset and disappointment in deciding to leave Ainsty Ales, but I’m extremely proud of how strong the brand now is locally and how many industry and business awards we won over the 10 years ….. I’ll always be the founder!
I’m looking forward to my new journey with Eboracum, I’ll be using my Marketing, Networking and Business skills to develop and strengthen relationships, I’ll bring my own strategic decisions and direction to the team and share some of the workload that Carl currently has on his shoulders.
Eboracum MD Carl Nickson said: “Andy and I have been friends for nearly two decades and first met when working at North Yorkshire Police. We always stayed in contact and have worked together on a range of projects over the years.
“I am delighted that Andy is joining us, his values, ethics and approach to business are aligned with mine. York people and businesses will know Andy for his honest, family and community orientated personality. This, coupled with his experience in running his own business makes him a force not to be reckoned with!
“The management team at Eboracum look forward to having Andy on the team as we scale-up our operations and continue to keep our customer and public safe.”
I’m certainly not bitter about how my time at Ainsty Ales has ended, just disappointed. I’m content though that the business will continue to thrive and grow, it has some new investment and four local shareholders. I’m also very pleased that the day-to-day running will be undertaken by Stuart (who’s been the Head-Brewer at Ainsty Ales for over two years now) & Lyndsay Weston who are both well known in York. I’ve known Stuart for almost 10 years and he’s always been very supportive of Ainsty Ales in whichever Public House he’s managed.
If you’d like to get in touch with Ainsty Ales for sales purposes please contact Lyndsay at sales@ainstyales.co.uk , new Director Jon Greenwood can be contacted at jongreenwood50@gmail.com, I’ll still be monitoring andy@ainstyales.co.uk for a couple of weeks, my personal email is andyherrington77@yahoo.com and my mobile number will remain the same.
My final day at Ainsty Ales will be Friday 7th June ….. thank you to everyone who’s helped and supported myself and Ainsty Ales over these past 10 years, please continue to do so with the new team.
