BrewDog Creditors Face Steep Losses After £33m Rescue Sale

Creditors owed about £190 million by BrewDog will not be paid in full, administrators at AlixPartners have warned.

The update, published on 18 September 2026, covers unpaid wages, tax owed to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC, the UK tax authority), and overdue bills to suppliers. Administrators said there were insufficient funds to meet those liabilities in full. The Guardian

Tilray acquired BrewDog's brand, intellectual property, UK breweries and 11 bars for about £33m in a rescue deal after BrewDog fell into administration. The deal used a pre-pack sale, which means a buyer is lined up before administrators are appointed and the sale completes immediately after.

BREWDOG PLC entered administration on 2 March 2026. Ian Partridge and Clare Kennedy are listed as practitioners. BREWDOG RETAIL LIMITED is listed separately as In Administration, with a registered office in Glasgow.

The March rescue did not include most of the bar estate. Thirty-eight bars closed. Four hundred and forty staff lost their jobs.

Costs since appointment have further reduced recoveries. AlixPartners cited higher costs from removing "unauthorised occupiers" from shuttered bars. It also pointed to limited sums from asset sales, including vehicles described as of "old age and varying roadworthiness".

Former employees owed £489,000 in wages and holiday pay have already been paid under the government's redundancy payment scheme. Administrators said there were not enough funds to repay the government for that outlay. That order is standard in the statutory waterfall, the legal queue that decides who is paid first. The state supports workers first, then seeks recovery as a creditor.

The tax position is split. Administrators said there were insufficient funds to pay £2.4m in taxes owed to HMRC. A separate £3.6m owed to HMRC will be paid back. BrewDog PLC is expected to pay HMRC in full as a preferential creditor, a creditor the law places near the front of the queue, for £3.66m in tax owed, mainly VAT and excise duty. BBC

Unsecured creditors, lenders and suppliers with no security over assets, face near-total loss. BrewDog PLC owes around £190 million to unsecured creditors. Independent That group includes Lord's Cricket Ground, West Ham United FC and Manchester University. They will receive less than a penny in the pound, or less than 1p for every £1 owed.

Lender HSBC is expected to recover about £42m of about £61m it is owed. Private equity investor TSG bought a 22% stake for £213m in 2017. Its investment was wiped out. It will not recoup debts of nearly £28m.

The collapse rendered worthless the investments of 200,000 "equity punks" crowdfunding investors. BrewDog was co-founded by James Watt with Martin Dickie in 2007. AlixPartners was brought in to oversee the sale process, which at an early stage could have led to the businesses being broken up.

The broader context here is a pre-pack that kept the core brewing operation and a small bar footprint while leaving older liabilities behind. Secured lending takes a loss, preferential tax is protected, and unsecured trade, landlords and connected debt absorb what is left. The £33m value achieved against £190m of unsecured claims explains the sub-penny payout. What matters next is final recoveries from the closed estate, after occupation and disposal costs, and whether Tilray can steady the retained breweries and 11 bars without the debt and overhead that preceded administration.