London Fields craft brewery is up for sale for £1m after founder Jules Whiteway-Wilkinson charged with fraud
Craft brewers are hot property right now.
First Meantime in Greenwich was snapped up by SABMiller and then Asahi, while AB Inbev tapped Camden Town Brewery last year and there has been huge demand from investors wanting to dip their toe in via crowdfunding.
Now on the market is Hackney’s London Fields craft brewery, creator of the Hackney Hopster and Shoreditch Triangle IPA. But it’s not quite jumping on the craft beer boom bandwagon and taking advantage of growing interest.
Jules Whiteway-Wilkinson the founder of the brewery in 2011 has been forced to call last orders after HMRC charged him "in connection with a suspected VAT, tax and student loan fraud of more than £1m" the tax collector said.
Read more: London's craft beer mapped
Whiteway-Wilkinson has previously denied the charges which date back to between December 2011 and August 2014 and will appear at Thames magistrates in May, the Evening Standard reports.
Now the brewery business in Hackney which includes the London Fields Brewery the the Brewhouse Venue and the Taproom, is being offered for sale, either in part or in full.
Whiteway-Wilkinson was last year embroiled in controversy after failing to repay debts from his time as a drug-dealer, for which he served several years in prison, in addition to a raid by HMRC to which the current charges relate.