The departure of Andy Herrington from Ainsty Ales confirms what many small brewers have faced, particularly due to the impacts of the pandemic, its lockdowns and resultant cost-of-living crisis.
Records displayed on the Companies House website show a deteriorating financial situation in recent years for Ainsty Ales Ltd, which went into voluntary administration in February this year.
Company Accounts posted last December show the brewery at the end of 2021 had liabilities exceeding assets by £20,850. At the end of 2022, liabilities exceeded assets by £64,541.
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A statement of affairs published on the Companies House website following the February voluntary administration shows the company had an estimated deficiency with regards to creditors of £235.870.66.
Figures show the former company had assets of £50,832 available to secured creditors.
But Ainsty Ales Ltd also had second preferential creditors, namely HMRC, who was owed £69,048.90 in VAT and PAYE. This gave a deficiency of £18,216.16.
In addition, was secured debt with HMRC of £21,283, giving a total deficit concerning secured creditors of £39,499.
The statement of affairs also records a statement of liabilities, listing individual unsecured non-preferential claims.
Trade creditors totalled £14,459, HSBC was owed a further £40,667, there were family loans of £80,000, a loan with YouLend of £4,189, HMRC was owed a further £50,000 for beer duty, and Ford Leasing, a lease creditor, was owed £6964.60.
These figures, however, pale into insignificance when compared to the £4million the taxpayer and creditors lost from the administration of the Masham-based Black Sheep Brewery.
Last year, it was sold in a pre-pack sale to London-based Breal Capital for £5million, saving the business and its jobs, which at the time reported debts topping £6million.
Nationally, auditors Mazars reported that the number of breweries going bust jumped 82% last year, rising from 38 in 2022 to 69 in 2023.
