Keystone makes second attempt to avoid liquidation
Keystone Brewing Group, which owns a raft of breweries across the UK, has filed a second notice of intention (NOI) to appoint administrators, a month after its first plea for help.
The group, formerly known as Breal, which owns Yorkshire’s Black Sheep Brewery, Magic Rock and North as well as Warwickshire-based Purity and London’s Fourpure, Brick, Brew by Numbers and Wolfpack, employs roughly 190 staff across its brewery sites.
Precarious
The group, which also produces non-alcoholic brand Big Drop under licence and distributes Bavarian beer brand Hofmeister and French cider and calvados brand Sassy in the UK, recently revealed that it is now seeking to restructure or sell parts of its business. This now being its second attempt to pursue an outcome that will protect the business from folding has left the group exposed to the current precarious nature of the beer, pub and hospitality sector with all of the challenges the beer industry already faces.
At the time of the first NOI filing, the group had stated that it was simply a “protective measure” and a move that allowed the business to “keep trading as normal” while it secured “new investment or explore a potential sale” and give it “breathing space”.
Partner Content
Crisis point
At the end of last year, the group admitted that a lot of the pressure had come from trade creditors with the challenges then leading Keystone to bring in FRP Advisory to steer the business back on course, but now the situation has developed to become more critical with the second filing signalling a crisis point for the group.
Amid lay offs and adaptations to brewing locations following many of the breweries that the group had picked up seeing key figures leaving following the re-ownership, Keystone’s reputation suffered. However, the news followed the group’s swathe of independent brewery takeovers, which were often billed as a lifeline and yet were often criticised by insiders who called its pre-pack administration deals “nothing but glorified daylight robbery”.
Keystone Brewing Group’s board, CEO Steve Cox recently said: “The decision to file a notice of intention to appoint administrators was not taken lightly, but it is a responsible and strategic move that allows us to assess the best way forward.”
Related news
Women unite to boost presence in the beer sector for 2026
