THE company behind a prestigious restaurant has gone into liquidation with debts of £404,000.

Cafe Shore Limited in Sandbanks has entered into insolvency proceedings as it
owes £219,000 to the taxman and £185,000 to other creditors.

Despite the liquidation the restaurant in Banks Road in Poole remains open as it
is now trading under Cafe Shore Holdings Ltd.

It is able to do so as the lease for the Banks Road property was owned by the holding company, which is now negotiating to purchase the furniture and kitchen equipment.

The taxman issued a winding up petition in January over the unpaid PAYE and
VAT.

Ben Brafman at Cafe Shore told the Echo at that point he planned to resolve the
“dispute” and the company was due back at Companies Court in London next month.

But when funds for the debts could not be raised it entered into a formal insolvency procedure and a meeting of creditors was announced by the London Gazette as taking place at HJS Recovery in Southampton.

The latest annual returns at Companies House, both dated in February, show Julia Brafman as the sole director at Cafe Shore Ltd and as a director alongside Ben Brafman at Cafe Shore Holdings Ltd.

Shane Biddlecombe, insolvency practitioner at HJS Recovery, said the company suffered cash flow problems during 2012 and accrued arrears of PAYE and VAT before the winding up petition was served.

He said: “The company was not able to obtain any additional funding and in view of the pending winding up petition had no alternative but to enter into a formal insolvency procedure.

He added: “The lease of the premises at Sandbanks is held by a different company, which continues to operate.

“The directors of that company are in negotiations with my agents in respect of purchasing the company’s assets, which consist of furniture and kitchen equipment.”

Mr Brafman and Julia Brafman did not provide a comment.

 

  • THE lease for a business property is sometimes held in the name of a separate company in order to safeguard the future of business in the event of the trading company failing.

Julie Palmer, partner at business recovery specialists Begbies Traynor in Bournemouth, said it is “scant” consolation for creditors left out of pocket when businesses go under but it does mean jobs and livelihoods are protected.

She said: “In some ways that’s sensible business so that if the trading business fails that’s a way of reviving the business.”

She added: “The holding company will not be responsible for any of the debt of the liquidated company.

“Part of the duty of the liquidators will be to understand why that company has failed and to check the conduct and steps taken by the directors have been proper and reasonable.

“And if the liabilities are high that doesn’t mean the directors have done anything wrong.

“The trading conditions are difficult and they have probably been trying to struggle on manfully.”