A Northumberland gastropub which was forced into administration by a creditor has been bought by new owners.
St Mary’s Inn at Stannington, near Morpeth, could soon have a third chance at success, after administrators agreed a deal with a purchaser less than two months after they were appointed.
The gastropub first opened in 2014 following a £1.5m refurbishment of part of an Edwardian hospital, but was closed three years later because the rate of building and development around it was slower than hoped, and footfall was low.
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It reopened in the summer of 2018 and had gradually built up a solid reputation as a popular high-quality gastropub. But the arrival of the pandemic in March 2020 and imminent lockdown plunged St Mary’s Inn back into turmoil.
Last July directors made the decision not to reopen and all employees were made redundant.
Now documents filed at Companies House show that a former director and creditor had loaned the firm’s parent company Big Hearted Hospitality Ltd £1.2m in 2014 – and in October last year he “made demand for repayment of the loan plus interest, together with a further advance of £125,000 made on or around November 2016”.
Directors filed notice of intention to appoint administrators less than a month later, but 10 days after that, administrators Michael Bowell and Dermot Coakley of Guildford-based WSM MBI Coakley LLP had been enlisted by the creditor and qualified floating charge holder (QFCH), and were appointed in the High Court of Justice Business and Property Courts in Newcastle.
A statement of administrators proposals reveals that they have found new owners for the Morpeth gastropub, while outlining that their only objective has been “realising property in order to make a distribution to one or more secured or preferential creditors”.
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After they were appointed administrators started discussions with a potential purchaser “who had expressed an interest in purchasing the business and assets sometime in early 2020“.
Administrator Michael Bowell visited St Mary‘s Inn last December to meet with one of the directors, and also had a meeting with the potential purchaser who was invited to make an offer.
In the document, the administrators say: “Following advice received from a national firm of valuers, the joint administrators acccepted an offer from the potential purchaser which is subject to contract. The QFCH has confirmed that the offer is acceptable and he is prepared to release his security on the successful completion of the sale and purchase contract.“
The document states that a firm of solicitors has been instructed to prepare a sale contract and are hopeful the sale will complete within the next four weeks.
The identity of the purchaser has not yet been revealed.
A statement of affairs also filed for the company shows that large sums are owed to the directors - and there is a chance they could get some of their money back.
The creditor who triggered the administration is owed £1,405,000, while Jesmond Dene House, Hotel Operations Ltd, Rivergreen Development Plc and parent company Big Hearted Hospitality Company ltd, all of whom share the same directors, are collectively owed £1.74m.
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HMRC is owed £24,751 while trade and expense creditors are owed £28,257.
In total the directors have estimated unsecured creditors to be £1,793,450 and the document adds: “We have not taken any steps at this stage to agree any claims and we have yet to complete our investigation of the company accounts.”