Administrators have been brought in at Leicestershire gin distillery Burleighs following a petition to wind up the business from HMRC.
According to the official Gazette website David Elliott and Bai Cham of Begbies Traynor have been brought in to oversee the business, which is based in the Charnwood Forest, near Loughborough.
The website said HMRC had presented a petition to wind up the business at the end of October, saying it was owed money by Burleighs. The petition was due to be heard this Wednesday, December 14.
The Burleighs website remains live but has not been taking orders for several weeks after the business announced a month ago that the distillery had been temporarily closed.
A November 7 post on its Facebook page stated: “ The Burleighs Gin distillery is temporarily closed.
“As a result, we are currently unable to accept orders and will be temporarily postponing all events and Gin Academy sessions in November including our pop-up at Public on the 11/11/22.
“We thank you for your patience and understanding in this matter and will update you with more information as soon as we can."
The distillery was launched at Bawdon Lodge Farm, in countryside at Nanpantan, in July 2014, and went on to produce gins for Leicester City Football Club, Leicester Tigers and the King Richard III foundation alongside its own London Dry Gin, Export Strength Gin and Distiller’s Cut Gin, as well as other varieties.
Back in February 2021 the business announced that it had received £250,000 of investment to scale-up its operations from the Midlands Engine Investment Fund (MEIF), which was going to help it take on five full-time sales and operations jobs.
The MEIF package was provided by The FSE Group and backed by the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS).
As well as helping it launch new products the funding was also going to allow the company to build export sales in Europe and the Far East, and expand into the United States.
At the time Burleighs Gin director Sam Watson had said it was exciting times for the business which had a “clear vision” for growth.
He had said: “We are aiming to expand the brand overseas and continue to grow in the UK.”
According to Companies House Mr Watson, who has been approached for comment, is the sole director of the business.
In 2020 a crowdfund campaign was heavily oversubscribed bringing in £130,000 from 260 investors who gained a 5.25 per cent stake in the business. The campaign valued the business at £2.3 million.
