Antic Limited went into administration owing £2.6m to unsecured creditors

London pub firm Antic Limited, which operated 14 pubs including the Balham Bowling Club and the King's Head in Clapham, collapsed into administration owing nearly £2.6m to creditors.

The businesses at 12 of the pubs have subsequently been sold to Gregarious Ltd for £1.2m, following Antic's administration in January this year, and are now trading under the name Antic London.

A report by administrator Chantrey Vellacott DFK, filed at Companies House, showed that Antic owed £2.59m to unsecured creditors. That included £76,190 owed to Albion Wine Shippers, £13,632 to Euroboozer, £20,295 to Greene King Brewery and Retailing and £202,616 to Thames Water.

However the biggest creditor by far was HM Revenue and Customs, which was owed more than £1.7m.

In the report, administrator David Oprey of Chantrey Vellacott DFK explained that the company had started to suffer financial difficulties in 2008, as a result of the economic downturn. It tried to become less reliant on bank debt by increasing the size of its portfolio and strengthening its position.

At the time it had overdraft and loan facilities with Barclays Bank of £100,000 and £80,000 respectively. Antic had anticipated that Barclays would fund its acquisition of additional sites with another £300,000-400,000 in secured loans but the funding was withdrawn as banks stopped lending to businesses. Instead, Antic tried to use working capital to fund its expansion which damaged its cash flow.

Oprey explained that as a result of this, Antic had struggled to pay HMRC since 2008 and had faced a number of winding up petitions. In September 2012, after the company had been hit with a winding-up petition from HMRC for debts of nearly £940,000, director Anthony Thomas tried to agree a repayment plan but was unable to do so. Chantrey Vellacott DFK decided against a CVA and the business was put into administration.