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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
National
Jon Robinson

Over £1.5m owed by Liverpool venue before rescue by former Iceland boss

More than £1.5m was owed by a Liverpool venue as it collapsed into administration before being rescued, it has been revealed.

Love Lane Brewery was recently saved after a former Iceland boss invested a further £300,000 in the company, the ECHO reported last month.

Nick Canning had increased his stake in the business after a pre-pack administration deal.

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Based in Liverpool’s Baltic Triangle, Love Lane Brewery is also a gin distillery, a bar and restaurant as well as an events space.

Now, newly-filed documents with Companies House from administrator Kroll have revealed how much the business was sold for and how much it owed its creditors when it collapsed.

Parent company LLB Realisations, which had previously gone under the name Higsons 1780, was sold to Love Lane Brewery Ltd for £235,000, according to the documents.

They also show that HSBC was owed about £375,000 through two Coronavirus Business Interruption loans of £250,000 in December 2020 and £125,000 in April 2021 but will only recover £35,000.

HMRC was owed in the region of £250,000 in relation to unpaid VAT, PAYE and NIC employee deductions. Kroll added that there is likely to be enough funds to reimburse HMRC but the exact amount is not yet known.

Kroll also said that there will not be enough funds to repay the company's unsecured creditors who are owed a total of £950,000.

On the events leading up to the business entering administration, Kroll said: "The company encountered a number of challenges since [the] onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and the trading restrictions faced as a result of the UK Government closures on the hospitality industry.

"The business was not breaking even and director Stephen Crawley, aided by the CFO Andrew Thustan, took steps to mitigate the trading underperformance and reached out to several investors to secure funding to recapitalise the company.

"During lockdown, the director took out furlough and CBILS loans to enable trading to continue."

Kroll added that by the start of January 2022 trading had improved but that the extent of the debts incurred to investors, HSBC and unpaid taxes was hindering the company's financial viability.

The company then explored other opportunities to raise further investment from the existing shareholders and potential new investors.

However, by April Kroll was told the business had not been able to secure additional funds and the process to place the business into administration was started.

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