Spare change anyone

Administrators have been appointed to deal with the sale of the Cains brewery and pub estate after discussions with its bank broke down.

PriceWaterhouse Coopers LLP has been appointed as administrators after shares in the Liverpool brewer were suspended last week.
Bank of Scotland refused to extend Cains facilities after it announced losses of £4.5m for the six months to 28 April.
A statement from Cains said: "In the announcement of Friday 1 August, the Company stated that it was continuing discussions with its bankers Bank of Scotland. The Board regrets to announce that it has been unable to successfully conclude those discussions and accordingly the Board has determined that it would be appropriate in the circumstances to place the Company in administration with immediate effect."
David Chubb, Ian Green and Craig Livesey of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP have now been appointed as joint administrators and have vowed to continue to operate the brewery and pubs while a buyer is sought.
Cains undertook a £37m reverse takeover of Honeycombe Leisure in May 2007, which saw Cains acquire 92 pubs, and a listing on the Alternative Investment Market.
The Bank of Scotland provided £40m, of which £30m was a loan facility, £5m in working capital and £5m to fund refurbishment of the pubs.
Cost of servicing the interest on debt amounted to £1.2m in interest for the most recent six month period, compared with just £66,000 a year ago.
The total estate of 102 sites includes 76 leaseholds and 26 freeholds.
"It is currently our intention to continue to trade both the brewery and pub chain businesses and we will seek to achieve going concern sales over the coming weeks and months,” said Chubb.
“We have already received some early indications of interest and we would also invite any parties interested in acquiring either the brewery or pub chain businesses to contact us as soon as possible."
The administrators are working with staff at the brewery and in the pubs to ensure they remain open. Negotiations are also on-going with key suppliers.
Prospective buyers should contact Jon Nuttall or Jonathan Hall at PricewaterhouseCoopers on 0161 245 2225.

OOOOHHHH, this would be the ultimate HBT group buy...Forget grain, let's bail out and buy a brewery!!!

We could do it like those old radio serial promotions...like "Own a piece of Alaska" or a gold mine...we could buy one share or a 1 foot square of the brewery for a buck.

Sounds like a great time to grab up a pub or brewery. I've been considering that once I leave the military, and if I were in the UK right now seems like a good time to make an offer.

Where do I send money?

Feck, I knew I should have gone on the tour when I was over!!!

Am I reading that correctly? After acquiring 92 pubs, they had a total of 102? Sounds like some of the stupid moves in the late '90's that almost killed craft brewing in the US.

Bean counters cannot be trusted with breweries.

I want a piece of this action. Just keep me in mind if something does surface.

Orfy can correct me if I'm wrong...

It might be a bad time to buy a pub in the UK. I don't know if it's the taxation on alcohol or the ban on smoking or the rising costs of petrol/energy or what, but I heard more and more pubs are closing down... especially the ones in the country. I was disappointed when I was there this past spring, to find that the pub we used to frequent in the small village of Wall Under Heywood was closed.

I went to a large(ish) local last night and struggled to find a seat.

If you have a scruffy back street pub with little to offer anyone but smoking locals then yes you'll suffer.

You need to give people a reason to go rather than stay at home to smoke and drink.

Many pubs find they have more "punters" now they are smoke free.

I love it.

We've a smoking ban on all workplaces (therefore pubs) and it's great. no longer do you feel that if you are in a pub for more than five minutes do you have to change your clothes...