West Berkshire Brewery shareholders' anger at administration move

THERE is anger among some shareholders over West Berkshire Brewery having gone into administration.

Yattendon Group Plc, which also bought Vicars Game in Ashampstead last year, acquired the assets of the brewery in December.

West Berkshire Brewery was set up in 1995 after Dave and Helen Maggs sold their home to fund a five-barrel brewery in a shed behind the Pot Kiln pub in Frilsham.

Brewing legend David Bruce became chairman of the brewery in March 2013, when it had seen growth of around 20 per cent year-on-year since 2001 and had annual sales of more than £1m.

A Crowdfunding appeal was set up in 2020 after the Covid-19 pandemic adversely affected the company, with shares from £10 to £25,000 to preserve jobs.

In return, the shareholders received discounts, brewery tours and beer subscriptions.

However, last month it was announced that these would end.

Moreover, the company's 1,667 investors, including Mr Bruce, saw the value of their shares wiped out.

One of the disgruntled shareholders has claimed the former brewery management kept them in the dark and that "repeated and frequent requests to the chairman ... to publish audited accounts for the period to end March 2021 and set a date for the AGM were repeatedly ignored and brushed off".

He said: "Local residents invested in West Berkshire Brewery to the tune of £12m, in good faith and based on financial reports supplied and the accompanying commentary from the chairman and managing director."

Others queried the claim that the coronavirus pandemic was responsible for the collapse.

Mr Bruce declined to comment, but has said in a letter to shareholders: "It is with a heavy heart that I want to confirm to all my fellow stakeholders that our company, The West Berkshire Brewery PLC, appointed Grant Thornton ... to be its administrator.

"During my 55-year career successfully investing in and developing breweries from London to Seattle via Paris, New York and Denver, I have never experienced a corporate failure before.

"Therefore, I am mortified personally that our company has finally succumbed to the devastating effects of the Covid-19 global pandemic on the UK’s brewing and hospitality industries, which have been well-documented by the media for the past 21 months."

The letter added: "We applied for a bank loan under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) but failed to obtain one, even though the Government was guaranteeing 80 per cent of any loans made.

"We furloughed as many of our staff as we could, obtained business rates relief, agreed rent deferment with our landlord and negotiated 'time-to-pay' with HMRC [Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs] for Beer Duty."

Mr Bruce said he had been advised by the administrators "not to communicate further with either our stakeholders or the press".