RIP Potts Pies?

[Posh]

Gone into administration owing over £100,000.

Apparently Russell is buying the business back under a pre-pack arrangement and will keep trading. Not an easy situation though.

[drinkduffbeers]

If you can't make money with a quality product like that theres no hope. Really hope he can salvage somthing as they are an institution. Stay in the kitchen and get someone in to run the finance side.

[Vinny]

And were'n't these (deservedly) voted the best pies in the Football League a while back?

They were always tops at the Chrustie Pie.

[Gnasher]

Gone into administration owing over £100,000.

Apparently Russell is buying the business back under a pre-pack arrangement and will keep trading. Not an easy situation though.

I hope the people who aren't going to get their share of the £100,000 manage to keep trading as well.

[Lloydie]

Hope they survive, my favourite lunchtime treat is a Pott's Meat & Potato with half a can of oxtail soup over it hmmm

[Heysham_Shrimp]

Gone into administration owing over £100,000.

Apparently Russell is buying the business back under a pre-pack arrangement and will keep trading. Not an easy situation though.

I hope the people who aren't going to get their share of the £100,000 manage to keep trading as well.

If the majority of the £100,000 is owing to a bank and H M Revenue and Customs then I think they will still be trading

[Christies Child]

It's simply wrong that a company can close down one night and open up the following day with all debt cleared.

Sod those who are owed money!!!!!!!!

[Gnasher]

Gone into administration owing over £100,000.

Apparently Russell is buying the business back under a pre-pack arrangement and will keep trading. Not an easy situation though.

I hope the people who aren't going to get their share of the £100,000 manage to keep trading as well.

If the majority of the £100,000 is owing to a bank and H M Revenue and Customs then I think they will still be trading

In which case the bill will be picked up by the likes of us who now have to pay extra tax to meet the shortfall of Potts Pies HM Customs & Excise bill. Thanks for that.

[Gnasher]

It's simply wrong that a company can close down one night and open up the following day with all debt cleared.

Sod those who are owed money!!!!!!!!

Make a note in the calendar, Gnasher agrees with CC.

[Christies Child]

It's simply wrong that a company can close down one night and open up the following day with all debt cleared.

Sod those who are owed money!!!!!!!!

Make a note in the calendar, Gnasher agrees with CC.

It had to happen ONE day.....

[Heysham_Shrimp]

Apparently Russell is buying the business back under a pre-pack arrangement and will keep trading. Not an easy situation though.[/quote]
I hope the people who aren't going to get their share of the £100,000 manage to keep trading as well.[/quote]


If the majority of the £100,000 is owing to a bank and H M Revenue and Customs then I think they will still be trading [/quote]
In which case the bill will be picked up by the likes of us who now have to pay extra tax to meet the shortfall of Potts Pies HM Customs & Excise bill. Thanks for that.[/quote]

Well without knowing the details , it may be that HMRC is only a small amount in the £100k so it would depend how long the 15 employees and the directors remained on the dole picking up benefits and JSA as to whether the likes of us would be worse off or not.

[Seasider9601]

It's simply wrong that a company can close down one night and open up the following day with all debt cleared.

Sod those who are owed money!!!!!!!!

A certain local large plumbing company did the same.

[P/T Indie]

It's simply wrong that a company can close down one night and open up the following day with all debt cleared.

Sod those who are owed money!!!!!!!!

A certain local large plumbing company did the same.

I was just thinking that Seasider it seems to be happening more and more these days.

[morecambe mick]

It's simply wrong that a company can close down one night and open up the following day with all debt cleared.

Sod those who are owed money!!!!!!!!

A certain local large plumbing company did the same.

Roger that.

[Plain Peter]

Their meat'n'tatty never travelled well.
Preferred Thirwells on Princes Crescent and Yorkshire Street, and better value.
Didn't like it when Potts opened up on Princes Crescent though, as we lived right opposite, and the aroma creeping across the road from early in the morning was overwhelmingly tempting.

[Christies Child]

It's simply wrong that a company can close down one night and open up the following day with all debt cleared.

Sod those who are owed money!!!!!!!!

A certain local large plumbing company did the same.

But as I understand it they are now trading under a different name, but still using the same vehicles with the old name on their side. Hence the possible confussion.

They 'went' due to the non payment by a major building company based in Manchester who got in over their heads with all the city centre buiding projects.

It happens to even the best of us. But in my case I decided not to continue. All my creditors got their money which wasn't a great amount, but it cost me my house to pay back what I owed thanks to the incompetance of my Accountant!

[Ntini]

thanks to the incompetance of my Accountant!

Which is why all business owners, no matter how big or small the business is, need to understand and be directly involved in their accounts...

[Seasider9601]

But as I understand it they are now trading under a different name, but still using the same vehicles with the old name on their side. Hence the possible confussion.

They 'went' due to the non payment by a major building company based in Manchester who got in over their heads with all the city centre buiding projects.

£1200 they owed the company I work for.

[Christies Child]

thanks to the incompetance of my Accountant!

Which is why all business owners, no matter how big or small the business is, need to understand and be directly involved in their accounts...

Lesson 1 in my case.
I should never have got into 'bed' with the guy in the first place but at the time it seemed the perfect solution. He 'buggered off' to some far distant shore leaving a trail of businesses like mine in the poo. Never to be seen or heard of since!

[George Dawes]

It's simply wrong that a company can close down one night and open up the following day with all debt cleared.

Sod those who are owed money!!!!!!!!

A certain local large plumbing company did the same.

yeah common practice now, its wrong

[Gnasher]

http://www.companyrescue.co.uk/company- ... nistration

[HALMA 1983]

Does this mean we have to travel all the way to Germany to sample 'Potts' once more?

Damn! How I loved their Steak and sidney, crammed full to the very top and thats the reason why they carried a Premium price.......................You get's what you pay for (well, in some cases that is )

[SupermarketShrimp]

Drives me mental. As I've actually written to the government about, they'd get a lot further stopping this practice rather than bullying the banks into lending money to small businesses who will promptly shaft them. IF the companies were forced to trade out of the mess then the banks would have more confidence in them and hence lend it to them!

[pottypieman]

Hi Guys,

Some touching, yet all accurate comments . thank you to those with sympathy and I understand to those who criticise.

The facts are that takings with the same 3 shops I have left now, compared to 1997 (before the recession hit the real world!) are down 2500-3000k PER WEEK! I did all I could to stay afloat as I was, redundancies, cost cutting, selling surplus gear etc, but you can only do that for so long!

I chased new accounts, set up the on-line shop and the only real saving grace was the Franchise in Germany, this did of course bring on its own costs . . packaging, flights, legal costs etc . . but (no pun entended!) as of the middle of February due to several reasons beyond mine and the Franchisee's control . . its "bombed" leaving us both in a bit of a mess and as far as I know he has shut! And also, unfortunately well before I recouped my costs.

Once my sales dropped so dramatically in '08, the wonder that is H**C bank decided I was a risk and decided to charge me 9.5 above the base rate instead of my traditional 2.5, on all the borrowings (some inherited from my father!) . . now by the time I have paid 10k in redundancies and brought in the cost savings, while reeling from (then) 4k a week drop in sales (thats with 4 shops dont forget!) it doesnt take long for the debt to rise!

The recession just meant everyone got "cheap" and quality goods were last on the shopping list, pack ups are the norm for whatever "worklads" were still working and everyone started looking at the costs of anything! It is a very expensive process to make pies the way we do, my wage bill in 2007 was 12-14k per four weeks, we are a dying breed and I hate to admit it but really cant see if I will be making pies in 10 years time. we used to make more Meat & Tatty pies for ONE shop in 1989 for a saturday than we do now for THREE shops in a WEEK! You dont need to be a brain surgeon to work that one out . .

In the new year (well the middle of Feb) Germany crashed and burned and due to a void in cash flow an arrangement to Her Majestys Tax Orifice was bounced, so basicly if I hadnt arranged the pre pack we would have been shut down now with 3 empty shops and 15 hard working staff in the dole queue, I cant explain the Guilt I feel about the very few that got caught out but when you run out you run out, also the vast majority was the Bank and HMRC! One could argue about the merits of the HMRC side but to be honest with the increase in NMW the NI/Employers NI/PAYE payments has doubled over the last 3 years as the thresholds never rose at all, and 2 weeks extra holidays only adds to the costs of employing people! In fact the holidays alone costs 12k PA to cover these days . . thats a lot of pies!

You know "Greggs" factory in Manchester can make enough pies in a day to last me 2 years, So I can never match them on price but at least my pies dont taste like dog food! But alas I fear one can never compete with that kind of productivity . .

However we are still open ( viva le pie-volution!) and the staff are still working hard, the pies are still damn fine but they will be going up next week which is the first rise since 2008, everyone is aware of how costs have risen and bakery goods are certainly not immune, I hope you understand and this answers any questions you may have.

I must say that If the bank had let me stucture my borrowings sensibly over 10 years at my normal rate, with some to invest in diversifying into other areas and taking me out of the red I am absolutely sure that I could have rectified the situation and everyone would have been paid, unfortunately their priority I feel is to force people into doing what I have done or to dissapear completely so they can clear their credit column and say how ethical they are now!

Did anyone see that ol' Gordo Brown last month admitted that he was at fault by letting the banks loose, stating that he was under pressure from the "City" to leave them to it!

Anyway, heres to the last game, and I hope you carry on enjoying the pies next season.

Thank you,

Pie for now, Russell.

[marky No.1]

Fair play for coming on and explaining, Russ. You will understand why people are p***** off with debts not being paid , but I for one understand that the cost of business nowadays is f****** taking the proverbial. As I have said for quite some time now, the supermarkets will take over the world having eaten up butchers, fishmongers, grocers, markets, card shops, shoe shops, newsagents, clothes, fuel, outdoors paraphanalia etc etc

Feel for our siblings T.B.H.

My rateable value has tipped over 100K compared to the Globe Arenas 42.5K No wonder the season tickets have gone up !