Yahoo News Award-winning Liverpool brewery closes after collapsing into administration
A Liverpool micro-brewery has closed after it collapsed into administration.
According to Companies House documents, Big Bog Brewing Company, based at the Venture Point East business park in Speke, appointed administrator Neil Henry of Lines Henry last month. The brewery has closed and its assets will be sold.
Founded in North Wales in 2011, Big Bog moved its operations to Liverpool in 2016. The brewery focused on traditional, hand-pulled cask ales, while sister brand Strawberry Fields Brewery produced modern craft beers from the same site, which also had a tap room.
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The brand's beers were found in pubs across Merseyside. Big Bog won eight awards at 2022's Independent Beer Awards.
About the closure, Neil Henry said the higher price of materials and lower sales due to an increase in pub closures meant that the brewery faced financial difficulties. He added: "All of this has meant that, despite producing a product that has won many awards and accolades, the business could not continue and has had to close."
The hospitality industry has taken a number of hits in recent times. Several venues in Merseyside have closed since the turn of the year and last week the ECHO reported that award-winning Cheshire brewery Chapter would close later this year.
Last year, Craig McCormick from Birkenhead's Glen Affric brewery told the ECHO that he believed the region's hospitality industry would remain in "survival mode" for some time.
He said: "I think the entire drinks industry is going to be hunkered down in survival mode for the next 12 to 18 months.
"At a certain point, I lost count of the breweries that closed down last year. Even this year, we've lost loads.
"Last year we had a lot of the small guys and one or two of the big guys, but this year we've seen a few of the bigger guys go, because they had a longer tail.
"For a lot of breweries now, it's not a case of who's making money, it's who's got the biggest cash reserves and who's losing the least. I don't think there's many breweries earning money. It's a very difficult industry."
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