CREDITORS owed almost £450,000 by a business whose Sandbanks cafe was gutted by fire are still waiting for a payout nearly eight years later.

Lucy Enterprises ran Cafe Shore in Sandbanks and went into administration shortly after it was wrecked by an electrical blaze in August 2014.

An insurance claim over the fire was rejected.

One of Lucy Enterprises’ directors, Benjamin Brafman, was later banned from being a company director because of his actions while with the business. His period of disqualification came to an end last August.

Mr Brafman was found to have borrowed £101,604 from the company, while his mother Julia Brafman had drawn £63,159, according to the liquidator. 

Liquidator Simon Renshaw, of RG Insolvency, first reported in 2017 that he had instructed lawyers from Coffin Mew LLP to look into “potential rights of action arising from the declined insurance claim following the fire at the company’s trading premises”.

In his latest annual report to creditors, Mr Renshaw said: “I continue to liaise with the solicitors and the litigation funders but at present, I am unable to disclose any further information as to do so may jeopardise potential recoveries.

“I will, however, provide creditors with a more substantive update in my next progress report where it is appropriate to do so.”

The liquidator has received claims from 19 unsecured creditors totalling £351,520 and there are thought to be another 21 creditors owed an estimated £92,056.

Preferential creditors consisted of six staff who have claimed £538 between them and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, which has submitted a claim for £3,278.

“Based on current figures, the dividend prospects for creditors will depend on the realisations achieved, if any, in respect of the potential rights of action,” said Mr Renshaw.

A previous company which ran Cafe Shore, called Cafe Shore Limited, also had Julia Brafman as director. It was liquidated in 2013 with debts of £404,000.

Its assets were sold to Lucy Enterprises for £25,000, of which only £6,167 was received, according to a previous report.

The premises are now occupied by Rick Stein at Sandbanks, which has no connection with the cafe business.