Simon Buckley disqualified as a company director director for 3 years

Well, well, well, former gay nightclub boss and brewer of indifferent beer, Simon Buckley, has been banned from acting as a company director for 3 years. 


Case details for SIMON BUCKLEY
Name: SIMON BUCKLEY
Name: Welsh Estates Limited
Date of Birth: 1957-09-02 00:00:00.000
Date Order Starts: 2014-10-20 00:00:00.000
Disqualification Length: 3 Years 0 Month(s)
CRO Number: 05219412
Last Known Address: 2 Abbey Terrace, , , , Llandeilo, SA19 6BD
Conduct: (i) Mr Simon Buckley failed to ensure that Welsh Estates Limited (“Welsh Estates”) complied with its statutory obligations to HM Revenue & Customs (“HMRC”) to file timely returns and make payments from at least 01 November 2007 to the date of liquidation on 26 January 2011. HMRC’s final Value Added Tax (“VAT”) claim at liquidation was £590,522. In particular: 

• VAT returns totalling £147,115 for 13 monthly periods from September 2007 to January 2008, March 2008 to August 2008 and November and December 2008, were not submitted until 2 and 3 April 2009. The oldest outstanding return for the period September 2007 was therefore filed 17 months late, with the earliest outstanding return for the period December 2008 filed 2 months late. HMRC were unaware of these liabilities until those dates, previously considered them to total £40,764 in central assessments.

 • According to HMRC's records no returns were submitted for the months January and February 2009, December 2009 and February 2010 to October 2010 leading to assessments of £325,810. • HMRC raised surcharges totalling £90,078 in respect of the late and non-filed returns of which £67,740 remains unpaid. • From 15 February 2008 to 07 October 2009 HMRC received payments from Welsh Estates totalling £115,750 in respect of VAT. Nothing was paid after 07 October 2009, although the company continued trading until October 2010, leading to estimated arrears before surcharges at liquidation of at least £354,162.

 • If all payments are set against the earliest VAT debt there is still £14,325 due for August 2008, payable in full by 30 September 2008.
 (ii) He caused Welsh Estates Limited (“Welsh Estates”) to trade to the detriment of HM Revenue & Customs (“HMRC”) from at least 01 January 2010 until cessation of trade on or around 31 October 2010 in respect of Value Added Tax (“VAT”) estimated at £156,031.

In particular:
 • On 31 December 2009 Welsh Estates had VAT arrears of £126,756. It subsequently incurred additional VAT liabilities of £156,031. The last payment made by Welsh Estates in respect of VAT was received on 07 October 2009. 

• Bank payments were made between 01 January 2010 and 31 October 2010 of £1,740,796 of which nothing was paid to HMRC in respect of VAT. • Company records show that trade creditors decreased by £256,171 from 01 January 2010 to 31 October 2010 whilst the outstanding VAT increased by £156,031 in the same period. 
This information is correct as at 2014-10-13 00:00:00.000

Do the new Wetherspoons beermats have a connection with the owner of this brewery?

An interesting question to ask, regarding the mad, sad, twisted old drama queen and former gay nightclub boss Simon Buckley. Although, I understand, since his days and nights on the gay nightclub scene he has decided that he prefers moose knuckles to the tradesman's entrance. Allegedly.

Brewer critical of CAMRA beer festival before it opens!

Welll it seems like the Llandeilo Village Idiot is up to spreading his usual lies again, although this time he picks on his local CAMRA Beer Festival via his company website  (screenshot above in case its removed after his meds kick in).

"Why do we let these amateurs call themselves brewers. I tasted some really poor beers at the festival. Badly made, badly constructed, and frankly some of them microbiologically unstable".

Well, in one way it's your own fault for drinking your own beers!

Okay, let's look at the facts, according to the Evan Evans webpage the above was posted on October 2nd, a day before the Festival even opened (Thursday the 3rd) and according to staff at the Festival, Simon Buckley did not even turn up at the Festival until Saturday 5th October. Hmm telling lies about CAMRA cellarmanship and the brewers of Wales before the Festival has even opened and before he has even tasted the beers? Looks like Buckley has lost the plot once again. Once again his lies and mistruthsare there to be exposed to all.

Links to the webpage were posted on Social Media earlier this week and here are what people said,

"I was volunteering at the festival all the open sessions and the statement is simply not true! Full marks for slagging off the event 3 day before they were there!"

"I know actual amateurs who brew much better than Evan Evans"

"Never buying any of his beers again!"

"That's shocking behaviour!"

"Outspoken brewers slagging off their competition!.... glad I don't know anyone like that!"

"He wants to be careful, coming from Llanelli and calling others "microbiologically unstable"

"I've had Evans Evans beer. Medicore would be about the best description of Cwrw!"

"Idiot!"

Well there you have it, a round up of what people think of the untrue comments of the Llandeilo Village Idiot, hardly surprising a few years ago a CAMRA beerfestival had to ban him for, amongst other things, "Threatening and violent behaviour". Oh dear, well maybe his behaviour will change when his meds kick in again?

UPDATE:
The post was removed from the Evan Evans website, only to re-appear a few days later with the date changed to the 7th October! Good job we have the screen shot above so everyone can see the bile and lies the Llandeilo Village Idiot spouts!

Scores on the Doors - filthy pubs

 

Further to my previous posts on the 'Scores on the Doors' scheme run by the Food Hygiene Agency, I decided to make Freedom of Information requests to a couple of councils to find out why a couple of pubs had scored so low on the scheme.

Cardiff Council were the first to respond but there was a delay from Powys Council - above is a screenshot from the Food Standards Agency website regarding the George Hotel in Brecon which scored a 0/5 - the website does not go into detail as to why the score was so low, hence the FOI request.

The George Hotel in Brecon scored so low because:

Compliance Food Hygiene and Safety 

Some major non-compliance with statutory obligations

"Repeat issue re fridge. High risk stored"  

Structural

Some major non-compliance with stat obligations

"Grease to walls. Cleaning issues" 

Confidence in Management Systems 

Poor track record of compliance, little or no technical knowledge. Little or no appreciation of hazards or quality control. 

"No food safety management".

Not the type of place you'd really want to eat in is it?

The company that owns the George in Brecon also runs the Cricketers in Cardiff which scored marginally better with 1/5

I did get banned from the Cricketers early this year after I complained to the owner via email that his pub stank of fish, which it does. Good job I did not eat in this place as the inspectors found:

Confidence in management/control procedures

"....have not carried out the kind of logical but simple analysis of the food safety hazards present that is required by current food legislation"

Compliance with food hygiene and safety procedures

"Several ready-to-eat food items found in the desert and sandwich trays were found past their use-by-date"
Oh dear, serving out-of-date food to your customers! Is the pub called the Cricketers or the Crapeters?
Compliance with structural requirements
"Ice-making machine was dirty".
"Window in the kitchen left open and provided easy access for pests"
No doubt attracted by the smell of fish from the pub.
"Fridge/freezer in the kitchen was not clean".
"Door seal of the fridge was dirty".
"Floor covering in the kitchen was dirty".
"Ceiling above the hot cupboard in the kitchen was dirty".

Not a glowing report, though I understand improvements have been made. It is odd that the George in Brecon appears to have had less serious issues than the Cricketers in Cardiff, but was given 0/5 rather than 1/5. It seems to be that each council environmental health departments have different criteria to awarding the scores.

The owner of these premises proudly states that he has access to my Facebook account and is in fact  cyberstalking me, if anyone is interested, below is a screenshot from Linkedin account to show that he does indeed read this blog and follow my Twitter updates.

 

Still at least while he is cyberstalking me he is not bullying his staff!

Scores on the doors

A while ago the Food Standards Agency launched their 'Scores on the Doors' programme with scores from 0 to 5 being award with 0 being 'Urgent improvement necessary' to 5 being 'Very good'. Now these scores are produced by local councils and I'm a bit disappointed to see that environmental health officers from Newport have not got around to all the Newport pubs - also the listing system is a bit confusing - 'The' appears in the alphabetical list in some places and not others so if you search for a pub name the search will not show up the pub name unless you use 'The'! A bit of a data entering error there on behalf of my useless council.

Cardiff Council does seem to have covered their pubs well, take for instance Cathedral Road and the scores available for those pubs:
The Cayo Arms is owned by Marston's and scores 3, 'Generally Satisfactory' - FSA link here

Further up the street the Evans-Evans flagship pub, the Cricketers fairs less well:

Scoring a 1, ' Major Improvement Necessary' - FSA link here
The pub also had a disapointing review of its food here.
Now to take this in context a quick look at the search for Caroline Street, Cardiff's 'Chip Alley' reveals these scores:

All scoring better than the Cricketers.
Finally the Halfway, owned by SA Brain, FSA link here

I often eat in this pub when in Pontcanna and have always found the pub to be clean and welcoming.

Check out the cleanliness of your favourite pubs via the Food Standards Agency website here

NB: The above screen shots were taken from the Food Standards Agency website on the 11.07.11. and are subject to change and alteration dependent on future surveys by Cardiff Council.

Brewer faces payout over gay jibes

From the Daily Post, click image to enlarge.
I think the article says it all.
Buckley was unavailable for comment as, according to a source at Evans-Evans Brewery, "He is on holiday in the South of France". Nice for some, being able to afford that, unlike his former employees who will be lucky to get a fraction of what they were awarded as the company has since gone into liquidation.
Odd that the person who made these comments is a former public schoolboy who later ran a gay nightclub - he doth protest too much methinks! Its also not the first time the old crook has cast such mistruths - I have been a victim of his attacks as well - check out this site - the photos are used illegally as well, still copyright theft is just another of the long list of crimes that can be added to his charge sheet.

Wonder how long the Carmarthen Journal will wish to associate itself with a columnist who holds such views as this?

Update:
It appears that Buckley has ordered his 'partner' to remove the offending post, however here it is available as found on the Google cache:"
"This is Google's cache of http://walesbrew.blogspot.com/2010/02/james-daley-voice-from-closet.html. It is a snapshot of the page as it appeared on 23 Apr 2011 21:35:13 GMT. The current page could have changed in the meantime.

These terms only appear in links pointing to this page: http walesbrew blogspot com 2010 02 james daley voice from closet html "

 One doth protest too much methinks Mr Buckley!

Yes I am familiar with such language as having studied both Greek and Latin and attending University I would be converse with such terms. Come on Simon, if you disappear any further into the closet you will be in Narnia. Time to step out into the real world for once?

Update 2:
It seems the Daily Mail have picked up on the story as has the Pink News - comments are worth reading on the latter.

Welsh Brewery in Liquidation

The London Gazette is not on my usual list of reading material but a Welsh brewer sent me this little gem which appears to show the company behind the Evans Evans beer brands has gone into liquidation. Now to those who follow the trials of tribulations of Simon Buckley know that it is no big surprise that another of his companies has gone to the wall yet again.
In what has been described as by the brewery as, "A complicated company restructure", it would appear that the brewery is still brewing, the assets of the Buckley Bros Brewing & Brands Ltd having been transferred to another company before liquidation, in what some might say sounds allegedly like a phoenix company fraud. Now the Brew Wales team are not going to be spending hours going through the various accounts of Buckley Bros Ltd, Welsh Estates Ltd or Beer Brands Ltd or whatever name the brewery is trading under this week, we shall leave that job to the forensic accountants who are no doubt sniffing around the remains of the liquidated company attempting to discover what has happened to investors money.
After the economic failure of Y Cadno, the flagship Evan Evans pub that was situated on Cathedral Road, Cardiff, one can only wonder how much longer this brewery will continue trading under any name.

Above: the state of one of Simon Buckley's companies, Beer Brands Ltd, according to Companies House

Below: Welsh Estates Ltd, again from Companies House

Hardly a healthy state of affairs for any company director to be proud of?

The Brew Wales editor did attempt to contact Simon Buckley at the brewery, only to be told by someone at the plant in Llandeilo that he was out of contact as he was "On his annual Christmas shopping trip to New York"! 

Nice for some!

Update:
Simon Buckley banned as acting as a company director:
Case details for SIMON BUCKLEY
Name: SIMON BUCKLEY
Name: Welsh Estates Limited
Date of Birth: 1957-09-02 00:00:00.000
Date Order Starts: 2014-10-20 00:00:00.000
Disqualification Length: 3 Years 0 Month(s)
CRO Number: 05219412
Last Known Address: 2 Abbey Terrace, , , , Llandeilo, SA19 6BD
Conduct: (i) Mr Simon Buckley failed to ensure that Welsh Estates Limited (“Welsh Estates”) complied with its statutory obligations to HM Revenue & Customs (“HMRC”) to file timely returns and make payments from at least 01 November 2007 to the date of liquidation on 26 January 2011. HMRC’s final Value Added Tax (“VAT”) claim at liquidation was £590,522. In particular: 

• VAT returns totalling £147,115 for 13 monthly periods from September 2007 to January 2008, March 2008 to August 2008 and November and December 2008, were not submitted until 2 and 3 April 2009. The oldest outstanding return for the period September 2007 was therefore filed 17 months late, with the earliest outstanding return for the period December 2008 filed 2 months late. HMRC were unaware of these liabilities until those dates, previously considered them to total £40,764 in central assessments.

 • According to HMRC's records no returns were submitted for the months January and February 2009, December 2009 and February 2010 to October 2010 leading to assessments of £325,810. • HMRC raised surcharges totalling £90,078 in respect of the late and non-filed returns of which £67,740 remains unpaid. • From 15 February 2008 to 07 October 2009 HMRC received payments from Welsh Estates totalling £115,750 in respect of VAT. Nothing was paid after 07 October 2009, although the company continued trading until October 2010, leading to estimated arrears before surcharges at liquidation of at least £354,162.

 • If all payments are set against the earliest VAT debt there is still £14,325 due for August 2008, payable in full by 30 September 2008.
 (ii) He caused Welsh Estates Limited (“Welsh Estates”) to trade to the detriment of HM Revenue & Customs (“HMRC”) from at least 01 January 2010 until cessation of trade on or around 31 October 2010 in respect of Value Added Tax (“VAT”) estimated at £156,031.

In particular:
 • On 31 December 2009 Welsh Estates had VAT arrears of £126,756. It subsequently incurred additional VAT liabilities of £156,031. The last payment made by Welsh Estates in respect of VAT was received on 07 October 2009. 

• Bank payments were made between 01 January 2010 and 31 October 2010 of £1,740,796 of which nothing was paid to HMRC in respect of VAT. • Company records show that trade creditors decreased by £256,171 from 01 January 2010 to 31 October 2010 whilst the outstanding VAT increased by £156,031 in the same period. 
This information is correct as at 2014-10-13 00:00:00.000

News of the Brews

A few little bits of news that have filtered our way over the past few weeks:

Ffos-y-ffin Brewery in Carmarthenshire has stopped production. It seems that the farm is up for the sale and the outbuilding where the brewery was located has been converted back into agricultural use. It is doubtful that the brewery will continue under its present name as it was named after the local spring.

Further east in Torfaen, Cwmbran Brewery is looking to end production, the reasoning behind this is a change in the business rate valuation by Torfaen Council, who have decided that business rates are to be levied on all of the buildings, not just on the brewery building. So well done there to Torfaen Council for putting a successful brewery out of business in a failed attempt to raise income. Good to know that it's not only in Westminster but also in local town halls that incompetent politicians and their equally incompetent civil servants/local Government officials are screwing up the country.

And finally to Powys where Evan Evans brewery are flogging off the Bull's Head pub in Brecon for an asking price of £250, 000. This was formerly a CAMRA Good Beer Guide pub until taken over by Welsh Estates Ltd, the parent company of Evan Evans. A quick check at Companies House reveals their accounts to be overdue by over a year. The evidence does suggest some cashflow problems here, not helped by opening their flagship pub in Cardiff, situated just around the corner from the Ashes venue, a week after the match had finished. Still it's not a bad pub and the lack of customers at Y Cadno always guarantees you a seat. The price for the Brecon pub is considered a bit optimistic in this climate though, overinflated as one commentator said, just like the ego of the owner.