Two popular York pubs are affected by the news that their brewery owner is heading towards administration.
Black Sheep Brewery intends to appoint administrators, its management announced yesterday (Tuesday).
The popular brewery, based in Masham, North Yorkshire, is in ‘financial difficulty’ brought on by Covid, debt and high inflation .
That not only puts Black Sheep’s future in question, but that of York Brewery. Black Sheep bought the brewery and its pubs in December 2018.
The Masham company stepped in after York Brewery and its parent company, Mitchells of Lancaster, went into administration.
At the time, York Brewery had three licensed premises, including the Tap Room at the Brewery on Toft Green. Mitchells had disposed of the Yorkshire Terrier which once operated on Stonegate.
In June 2019 Black Sheep announced that it was transferring production of York Brewery beers to Masham and closing the Toft Green premises. It remains empty to this day.
At that time it said it was hopeful of bringing the brewery back to the city at a later date.
[adrotate group=”3″]
Black Sheep also bought the two remaining York Brewery pubs in the 2018 deal – the Last Drop Inn on Colliergate and the Three Legged Mare on High Petergate.
The Last Drop reopened with Black Sheep branding in October 2021, after being closed by Covid.
Now the two pubs’ future – and York Brewery beer – all hinges on Black Sheep finding a buyer.
A spokesperson for Black Sheep told YorkMix that the York pubs were continuing to trade as normal. “Everyone is still working, everyone is still being paid.”
They said that York Brewery had been fully integrated into the Black Sheep business and did not trade as a separate entity.
The hope is that any potential buyer of Black Sheep would wish to keep the pubs operational and the York Brewery brand going too.
Hopeful of a buyer
The managing director Charlene Lyons said today she was hopeful that the business, and its 50 employees would be saved.
By filing a notice of its intention to appoint administrators, the Black Sheep board is signalling “that the business is in financial difficulty, and there’s a potential risk that we don’t think we can uphold our duties as as directors,” Ms Lyons told Wake Up To Money on BBC 5 Live.
While there was a possibility that the business would close “we are working hard to progress with the sale that we are trying to finalise”.
“We’ve got a lot of interest, it’s a really strong brand,” she said. The board was hopeful that a sale would include “continued trade for the business as Black Sheep, protecting all jobs”.
She blamed the business’s difficulties on becoming burdened with debt during Covid, followed by the “perfect storm” of inflation and high energy prices.
Ms Lyons concluded by saying Black Sheep was “hopefully a few steps further to the completion of an exciting deal. So, hopefully, all in all, we should end the week in a more positive way to the week we started.”
[tptn_list limit=3 daily=1 hour_range=1]