Consortium of locals buy Tom Wood brewery

A consortium of six local people have taken control of Lincolnshire brewer and retailer Tom Wood, which went into liquidation at the start of this month, and brewing is set to re-start today.

Seven bidders were in the running to buy the company, which includes the Highwood Brewery.

The firm went into liquidation owing just over £2m to creditors including the HMRC, banks, regional and national brewers and local service suppliers.

Former owner Tom Wood has been appointed head brewer of the new venture, known as Tom Wood Beers Ltd, after the six partners paid just over £100,000 for the business.

"The six people approached me independently," said Wood. "I felt I would be a lot happier working for a group of people passionate about the product rather than those who just want to extract value out of the business."

The new venture includes the brewery assets of the previous business, but not the wholesale arm, which Wood blamed for the previous company going under. "The margins were tight and it's a very aggressive market that was declining," he said.

While two of the company's pubs were closed by the liquidators, its flagship site, the Yarborough Hunt in Brigg, has stayed open because the Highwood Brewery has a 50% share in it — the other half is owned by another local operator.

Wood said brewing would begin at a lower level, with only about half of its 65/70 barrels used, so demand can be assessed.

The liquidation was handled by Grimsby accountant Charles Gorwood, who told a local newspaper: "There seems to be a quite of lot of interest in the process of micro-brewing and we received seven firm enquiries over the sale of Highwood.

"Tom Wood's Beer is a well- known and liked product, and that helped the sale."

The remainder of the brewery assets are to go on sale on 5 April in a sale organised by CJM Assets in Scunthorpe.