BrewDog staff owed wages get nothing from administration

According to the latest report from the administrators HM Revenue & Customs will also receive nothing towards its £2.4 million claim in unpaid VAT, PAYE and National Insurance.

Earlier this year, US beverage and medical cannabis firm Tilray took over the craft brewer in a deal worth about £33 million after the company collapsed with debts of more than £500 million, leading to hundreds of job losses.

The administration process saw BrewDog close 38 bars while the pre-pack sale rendered the holdings of about 200,000 crowdfunding “Equity Punk” investors worthless.

Tilray bought BrewDog’s brand, intellectual property, UK breweries and 11 bars, safeguarding 733 jobs while 484 redundancies were made across the shuttered pub network.

James Watt, who co-founded the brewer, stepped down as chief executive of BrewDog in 2024 (Image: BrewDog)

The progress report, filed by AlixPartners at Companies House and covering March 2 to September 1, 2026, reveals a sharp deterioration in returns to preferential creditors of BrewDog Retail Limited compared to initial proposals published in March.

At that stage, redundant workers, who are owed around £489,000 in wage arrears and accrued holiday pay, had been told to expect a dividend.

The latest report confirms there are now “insufficient funds” for any distribution to either the workers or HMRC. Unsecured creditors of BrewDog Retail, owed an estimated £207.6m, will also receive nothing.

Administrators blamed the shortfall on the collapse of deals to transfer leases to third-party pub operators, several of which had “progressed significantly” before failing at a late stage.

The administrators had initially expected leases could be assigned within six months of a licence to occupy being granted, allowing premises to be handed over cleanly. Instead, negotiations dragged on, racking up substantial legal, property and site-management expenses.

“The combined effect of increased costs and lower-than-anticipated property realisations has resulted in substantially lower net property realisations for Retail than originally forecast,” the report states. “As a consequence, fewer funds are currently expected to be available for distribution to any class of creditor of Retail.”

The report also reveals that administrators had to call in legal advisers and security teams after “unauthorised occupiers” broke into several closed BrewDog bars.

“During the Period, the Administrators became aware of a number of instances in which unauthorised occupiers had gained access to certain properties, notwithstanding the steps taken to secure the sites following appointment,” the report states.

Administrators had to deal with squatters in shuttered pubs (Image: BrewDog)

Administrators said they worked alongside landlords and agents to remove the squatters, but the unexpected security and court measures directly reduced net funds available from the retail estate.

By contrast, parent company BrewDog PLC is still expected to pay its preferential creditor, HMRC, in full, covering £3.66m in tax liabilities at 100p in the pound. Unsecured creditors of the PLC may also share in a statutory “prescribed part” fund capped at £800,000, though this represents less than one penny in the pound against total unsecured claims of £189.8m.

Senior lender HSBC faces an estimated shortfall of £16.76m across its main facilities, though administrators noted this could be reduced through asset realisations in the United States and government loan guarantee schemes.

Private equity backer TSG Consumer Partners, which took a 22% stake in the brewer in 2017, faces a total wipeout on its debt. TSG holds £27.6m in second-ranking secured loan notes backed by charges over group assets and the Ellon headquarters, with administrators confirming an expected return of nil.