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Market House has just been closed down and seized by landlords

I was trying to digest what happened to the Dogstar and the Coach. Are the freeholds owned by Golfrate - the same crowd who closed down "The Junction"?

The Dogstar accounts are like a blue pill/red pill job.
Anthony Thomas was a director - but resigned in 2013.
On the other hand Sunflake Limited became a person of significant control in 2019 - and the director of Sunflake Limited was - Anthony Thomas.
Moving on to the 2023 accounts these show a loss for the year to 30th June of £4,712,185.
The auditor signed these accounts off on 27th March 2024.

Can't be many people who could have taken on a pub with an accumulated negative balance sheet of £5,440,352.
That said the accounts show over £4 million owing to "group undertakings" - which suggests the Antic chain moved money - or at least liabilities - around.
It also might explain why the Insolvency Statement (attached)shows a very modest deficiency. How did they do that?? and who owns the actual pub though?
The insolvency was declared in April 2024, so things ticked over for several months before the pub actually closed.

Brixton Buzz dealt with this in July, with a link to The Cater regarding selling off Antic pubs Antic hospitality group – owners of the Brixton Dogstar – go into administration
 

Attachments

  • Atlantic Dogstar insolvency statement.pdf
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I was trying to digest what happened to the Dogstar and the Coach. Are the freeholds owned by Golfrate - the same crowd who closed down "The Junction"?

The Dogstar accounts are like a blue pill/red pill job.
Anthony Thomas was a director - but resigned in 2013.
On the other hand Sunflake Limited became a person of significant control in 2019 - and the director of Sunflake Limited was - Anthony Thomas.
Moving on to the 2023 accounts these show a loss for the year to 30th June of £4,712,185.
The auditor signed these accounts off on 27th March 2024.

Can't be many people who could have taken on a pub with an accumulated negative balance sheet of £5,440,352.
That said the accounts show over £4 million owing to "group undertakings" - which suggests the Antic chain moved money - or at least liabilities - around.
It also might explain why the Insolvency Statement (attached)shows a very modest deficiency. How did they do that?? and who owns the actual pub though?
The insolvency was declared in April 2024, so things ticked over for several months before the pub actually closed.

Brixton Buzz dealt with this in July, with a link to The Cater regarding selling off Antic pubs Antic hospitality group – owners of the Brixton Dogstar – go into administration
The "going concern" note to the accounts suggests that the underlying business of Atlantic Dogstar's subsidiaries were sold off in 2021, and the group accounts have therefore not been prepared on a going concern basis
 
The "going concern" note to the accounts suggests that the underlying business of Atlantic Dogstar's subsidiaries were sold off in 2021, and the group accounts have therefore not been prepared on a going concern basis
Can ypu explain a bit more? Over the years we know that Antic pubs seem to be accounted for separately, including "charges" to various venture capital LLPs.
Some pubs were sold off - about half went to Portobello I think probably before COVID.
Did you mean Antic subsidiaries sold off? Did Atlantic Dogstar actually have subsidiaries - or is/was the "group" a cluster of Antic pubs?
NB there were other assets too - such as 304 Brixton Road "Eagle Print Works" minus it's ornate weather vane, but with the addition of a mansard roof and studios behind, courtesy of Anthony Thomas.
 
Can ypu explain a bit more? Over the years we know that Antic pubs seem to be accounted for separately, including "charges" to various venture capital LLPs.
Some pubs were sold off - about half went to Portobello I think probably before COVID.
Did you mean Antic subsidiaries sold off? Did Atlantic Dogstar actually have subsidiaries - or is/was the "group" a cluster of Antic pubs?
NB there were other assets too - such as 304 Brixton Road "Eagle Print Works" minus it's ornate weather vane, but with the addition of a mansard roof and studios behind, courtesy of Anthony Thomas.
Incredibly, some Antic pubs are still trading - no doubt through some cunning twist of company law - while people like me are still owed shitloads of money.
 
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Incredibly, some Antic pubs are still trading - no doubt through some cunning twist of company law - while people like me are still owed shitloads of money.
Yeah the Bird In Hand in Forest Hill still going and getting more popular having been empty for the first year of trading. The manager used to run The Tiger, also still open for business. They've apparently recently bought the old Grape and Grain by Crystal Palace triangle, so somehow they've still got money to play with despite falling into administration, again. All very cloak and dagger.
 
Yeah the Bird In Hand in Forest Hill still going and getting more popular having been empty for the first year of trading. The manager used to run The Tiger, also still open for business. They've apparently recently bought the old Grape and Grain by Crystal Palace triangle, so somehow they've still got money to play with despite falling into administration, again. All very cloak and dagger.
Every time one of their pubs goes bust or into administration, people at the bottom of the pile get screwed. And they're often the people who have worked the hardest to make the venues a success.
 
Yeah the Bird In Hand in Forest Hill still going and getting more popular having been empty for the first year of trading. The manager used to run The Tiger, also still open for business. They've apparently recently bought the old Grape and Grain by Crystal Palace triangle, so somehow they've still got money to play with despite falling into administration, again. All very cloak and dagger.

N used to work there for a bit in between COVID lockdowns, I think it was Stonegate back then though - that was the company he worked part time for before COVID but more central London as either bar back or KP, and they got him some work in the Bird In Hand when pubs were open and nightclubs still closed.
iirc. they had to sell it because they owned other pubs in the area and the monopolies people deemed it too many.
 
Can ypu explain a bit more? Over the years we know that Antic pubs seem to be accounted for separately, including "charges" to various venture capital LLPs.
Some pubs were sold off - about half went to Portobello I think probably before COVID.
Did you mean Antic subsidiaries sold off? Did Atlantic Dogstar actually have subsidiaries - or is/was the "group" a cluster of Antic pubs?
NB there were other assets too - such as 304 Brixton Road "Eagle Print Works" minus it's ornate weather vane, but with the addition of a mansard roof and studios behind, courtesy of Anthony Thomas.
AFAIK The batch of pubs that went to Portobello were not sold off by Antic, but by the property owner who gave up on Antic and did not renew their leases.
 
And here's the sad sight of the Dogstar now all boarded up.

dogstar-end-4.jpg


 
I haven't confirmed this yet but I've been told Market House is reopening this weekend as a Irish/Jamaican pub, which sounds interesting, if true!
1734620480762.png

There might be a slight flaw in their plan to open on Friday... I'll post more when I get the story confirmed

 
View attachment 455602

There might be a slight flaw in their plan to open on Friday... I'll post more when I get the story confirmed

Interesting how they turned around the closure of Market House so quickly, yet are boarding up the Dogstar.
 
Interesting how they turned around the closure of Market House so quickly, yet are boarding up the Dogstar.
There's multiple machinations behind the sudden closure and (possible) swift reopening of Market House which I'm not at liberty to go into detail about (yet).

The Dogstar was horribly mismanaged for years, ending up in millions of debt that no one wanted to take on.
 
And Brix/Ton of Brix seems to have finally got the formula right on Wednesday nights by bringing in local musicians.
Last night was great - and open till 1am!
It really has hasn't! Visited a few weeks ago and the Youth Sayers playing some great tunes. Packed with a lovely vibe. And the bar prices where pretty reasonable, with lovely attentive staff.
 
There's multiple machinations behind the sudden closure and (possible) swift reopening of Market House which I'm not at liberty to go into detail about (yet).

The Dogstar was horribly mismanaged for years, ending up in millions of debt that no one wanted to take on.
Judging by the speed of the turn around I wouldn’t be surprised if it hasn’t changed hands. Maybe just switching companies & dumping some debt?
 
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