Copper Dragon Brewery to be bought out of administration

Copper Dragon Brewery is set to be bought out of administration by its founder.

Sources indicate the £3m deal is likely to be complete this week. The brewery's founder and managing director Steve Taylor is buying a 100% stake in the company from administrators, who were called in on the Friday before Christmas.

The brewery's sister company, Copper Dragon Estates Ltd, which owned the freeholds and leases of seven pubs, was liquidated last November.

The ownership of two pubs and the leases on four further public houses will be transferred to the Copper Dragon Brewery.

Taylor said the pub side of the business had made significant financial losses and was a drain on the brewery.

He added that administrators were called in after he refused to grant the bank an increased share of equity and would not give up his intellectual property rights.

Previously he owned a 75% share of the brewery with outside backers owning the remainder, but under the new deal he will pay £3 million to own the whole company. Taylor told the Bradford Telegraph and Argus​: "The brewery has weathered the storm of a difficult and frustrating period caused by the fallout from the credit crunch at a point in time when it underwent significant expansion."

Copper Dragon underwent massive expansion over the past 18 months after moving into its new larger base in November 2008.

"We were operating at optimum capacity at our old facility and required new premises and larger brewhouse in order to expand from a microbrewer to a regional brewery," added Taylor.

"We moved into our new £4.5m brewery and bistro at a time when the world financial system was in crisis."

The brewery, which was set up in 2002, unveiled a record year last September with a 50% increase in annual turnover to £4m.

"The last 12 months have seen our turnover increase with record levels of growth month-on-month. The bistro also continues to be an outstanding success so the future looks rosy," said Taylor.

The Copper Dragon Brewery brews five hand-crafted cask ales and supplies more than 2,000 pubs.