A landmark craft brewery’s in-house “pub” on the Walthamstow “beer mile” is to close – the latest victim of a council crackdown on firms that have been struggling to pay their rent.
The Hackney Brewery & High Hill Tap, in Blackhorse Lane, has announced it is shutting its “tap room” at the end of March after a battle with Waltham Forest council over arrears became “untenable”.
There are concerns that more independent businesses renting premises from the council could shut as the Labour-run council leadership adopts a hardline approach to recovering commercial debts as it searches for £14.3m of savings despite hiking council tax bills by 4.99 per cent.
In a post on Facebook, the brewery said: “Despite having a fully licensed taproom and consistently paying our rent, the council will not grant the necessary permission for us to continue running the bar.
“For the past two years, we have honoured our rent payments without fail. In June 2024, we entered into a voluntary agreement to settle post-COVID debt with our creditors over an extended period.
“However, this was not acceptable to the council in respect to arrears due to them, and despite nine months of communication and attempts to resolve the situation, we have been unable to come to a satisfactory agreement.
“As part of this arrangement, we were required to form a sister company to re-apply for our taproom license under its own name.
“While the licensing department approved our application, the council’s property department withheld the necessary permission, which has resulted in the closure.”
The tap room will remain open on Thursday and Friday evenings and each weekend from midday until Sunday March 30.
It is understood that the brewery plans to continue operating. Anne Berentsen, who runs the Blackhorse Beer Mile, said: “They’ll keep brewing, they’re just being forced to stop pouring.”
Sources at the brewery said it was grateful to its ward councillors and to Walthamstow MP Stella Creasy for their efforts in trying to keep it open.
“We want to extend our heartfelt thanks to the local community for your unwavering support, and to our incredible bar staff for creating a welcoming space for everyone over the past four years,” it said on Facebook. “It has truly been a pleasure to serve you and a privilege to work with you.”
Last October The Standard revealed how the Wild Card brewery had been forced to shut its two premises in Walthamstow – one opposite the High Hill Tap in Lockwood Way, part of the Blackhorse beer mile – as the council called in its debts.
Another Blackhorse beer mile brewery, Beerblefish, closed last week.
The beer mile had helped E17 to develop its “hipster” image and to attract incomers to the area.
Stella Creasy, the Labour MP for Walthamstow, said she was concerned at the imminent closure of the High Hill Tap and was making representations to the council about the need to support the hospitality sector.
She told The Standard: “The Walthamstow beer mile is a critical part of our local economy and community.
“I’m fighting to ensure that people can do business in our area. Local, independent makers and creators are a key priority for us, even in these uncertain economic times.”
Many businesses have accused the council of adopting an unnecessarily strong-arm approach to reclaiming debts – resulting in them going out of business.
They say that repayment plans they entered into to pay off historic rent arrears, including large sums incurred during the pandemic, have been made even more challenging after the intervention of the council’s new debt collection agency.
Many firms have complained about difficulty in contacting the council, followed by sudden threats of the consequence of failing to keep up repayments, including what one person with detailed knowledge of the situation described as “grossly unreasonable demands”.
Cllr Grace Williams, leader of Waltham Forest council, said: “The council works hard to support local businesses. However, we do expect them to act in good faith and operate according to the terms of their property contract.
“We must collect the rent that is due to us to fund essential services. If we did not, the only alternative would be to allocate other money from council tax receipts or our reserves.
“Councils have a responsibility to their residents to provide essential services such as adult social care, support for vulnerable children, and help for homeless families. We use many income streams to do this, with one of the most important ones being rent we collect from commercial tenancies.
“If we did not collect this money, it would impact our ability to provide these essential services, hitting our most vulnerable residents who need the most support hardest.”
The council also took the unusual step of posting a detailed response about the brewery's imminent closure on its Facebook page, in response to widespread concerns about what had happened.
It also dismissed rumours of there being a "hidden motive" behind the closure, namely that the council wanted to sell the site for housing.
The council said: "The decision to close the taproom was the business’s and theirs alone. The council did not ask for it to close and we were surprised to see this announcement. We were not given any advance warning.
"Hackney Brewery had accrued significant arrears during the Covid-19 pandemic. We arranged a reasonable payment plan to allow the business to pay off these arrears over a long period.
“We have worked closely with many businesses across the borough that were impacted by the pandemic, doing all we can to give them the support they need to recover and at the same ensure we are recouping the public money owed to us. We do not charge any interest on these debts.
"The business entered a Company Voluntary Agreement (CVA) in May 2024. This immediately breached the lease agreement for the premises with the council as companies operating from council-owned premises must be solvent. Entering the CVA also lapsed the existing alcohol license in accordance with the Licensing Act 2003 - this is national legislation we must adhere to. At this time, we stopped receiving the arrears repayments we had agreed with the owner.
"Because of this cessation of payments, the council served a Section 146 notice - a formal legal notice advising a tenant that their lease agreement has been breached and initiating the process for a forfeiture of the lease.
"The council has offered a number of reasonable routes to resolving the dispute that would keep the taproom running. The owner has not agreed to any of these offers and has refused to negotiate the situation.
"The taproom is fully, correctly licensed. There is no connection between its license and the arrears that are owed.
"We are also aware that there were people living at the premises, which is not permitted under the terms of the building’s use. If there were an emergency responders would not be aware of these people, and their safety could be at serious risk.
"There is strong, continued interest from local small and medium sized businesses in light industrial units throughout the borough. This includes demand from a number of breweries - Lockwood Way will continue to play an important part of the Walthamstow Beer Mile.
“There are no plans to use any of the taproom sites as housing. We want to find reliable new tenants for these premises."
