Tuesday, 21 December 2010

Cains in Trouble Again?


It seems the RC Brewery in Liverpool, formerly Robert Cain and Company may be in difficulties again. This follows a loss of £896,000 and warnings about cash flow from their auditors. I won't write further about the circumstances, as the Publican fully covers it here.

My particular interest in Cain's is as a former Liverpool resident and of course, the fact that this was Higson's Brewery in the past. I do hope this wonderful brewery survives. Whatever you think of the owners, the Dusanj brothers, they are a wily pair who will no doubt be working on a solution, but if you care as I do about the magnificent brewery itself and cities such as Liverpool having its own large commercial brewery, you better start crossing your fingers.

I have written about this company in the past, notably here and here.

3 comments:

  1. It's really sad but unfortunately you can't fight these things... just look at us in Leeds, with Tetley's brewery :(

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  2. I share your wish for the brewery to survive, but I'm no longer very bothered if it's Cains who owns it. I find Cains beers aren't the same as they used to be: for example, I recently went into Dr Duncans and had a pint of Raisin Beer, which I remember drinking happily all afternoon three or four years ago ~ it tasted very ordinary. I wonder whether they have cut costs be buying cheaper ingredients, but whatever the reason, the beers simply aren't as good any more.

    The comment in the Publican article that 'key suppliers “have been and continue to be supportive of the company”' simply means they have the choice of:
    1. write off your losses and get out now; or
    2. continue to deal with Cains and hope it all comes out well in the long run.
    Of course, if Cains still goes belly up, then you lose more money with 2 than with 1.

    I think Cains' reputation was seriously tarnished when they left loads of creditors stranded after the takeover of Honeycombe Leisure went wrong. People lost their livelihoods and, in the case of some licensees, their homes too.

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