Cains brewery calls in administrators

The company, which is the official beer supplier to Liverpool's role as the 2008 European Capital of Culture, also blames the smoking ban and the rise in material costs for its financial plight.

PricewaterhouseCoopers has been appointed as administrator for the Cains Beer Company, which was created last year by the reverse takeover of
pub company Honeycombe Leisure by Robert Cain & Company.

The company owns the Robert Cain Brewery in Liverpool and around a hundred pubs. Its packaged beers are widely stocked by the major supermarkets on both a national and regional basis and it is a significant supplier of own-label beer to the major multiples.

Joint administrator David Chubb said the intention was to continue to trade the brewery and the pub chain. “We have already received some early indications of interest,” he said.