The statement of affairs filed at Companies House lists £96,690 owed by the East Dean pub company. HMRC takes £58,025 of it, named suppliers £38,665.

The company that ran The Star & Garter at East Dean owed £96,690 to 16 named creditors and had assets its own directors expected to raise £1,100, according to the statement of affairs filed at Companies House on 4 September.

Thomas Babb Brewing Company Limited went into creditors’ voluntary liquidation on 5 August. We reported the wind-up on 12 August and said we would report the figures when they were filed. They now are.

The pub itself is open and taking bookings. The wind-up is of the company, not the business.

What the filing shows

The statement is dated 22 July 2026 and signed by director James McDonald. It puts the total deficiency as regards creditors at £95,598.52, and £95,698.52 once the £100 of issued share capital is counted.

The assets side is short. Three items are listed, none of them charged to a lender:

  • Plant and machinery, book value £36,853, estimated to realise £1,100.
  • Stock, book value £15,935, estimated to realise “Uncertain”.
  • A rent deposit of £21,000, also “Uncertain”.

That is a book value of £73,788 against £1,100 the directors were prepared to put a number on. Fixtures and catering equipment sold out of a pub rarely fetch much, but the gap between the two columns is the whole story of who gets paid.

HMRC takes three fifths of it

HM Revenue and Customs is owed £58,025.56, and ranks as a secondary preferential creditor, which means it is paid before the trade suppliers. There are no ordinary preferential creditors, no floating charge, and no bank in the list at all.

After HMRC, £38,664.96 of unsecured trade and expense claims remain, and £1,100 of assets to meet them.

The named creditors, largest first:

Named creditors of Thomas Babb Brewing Company Limited, from the statement of affairs filed 4 September 2026
CreditorBasedOwed
HM Revenue and CustomsNewcastle£58,025.56
Pozitive EnergyCanary Wharf, London£10,025.56
PDN WinesHermitage, Emsworth£10,000.00
Booking.comManchester£5,441.78
Handcross Butchers LtdHandcross, Haywards Heath£3,780.70
OilecoBlisworth, Northamptonshire£2,669.78
Swandean Fresh Meats LtdDurrington, Worthing£2,290.48
MunneriesShore Road, East Wittering£1,323.30
Green KingBurton upon Trent£1,022.00
Langham BreweryLodsworth, near Petworth£474.72
La Espanola LimitedPortsmouth£446.37
Illy Coffeevia solicitors, Guildford£443.48
Bowmans AlesDroxford, Hampshire£432.00
The Cheese ManBasin Road, Portslade£312.79

Two further creditors are listed at a nominal £1 each. The schedule totals £96,690.52 across 16 entries, which ties to the summary of liabilities to within an £8 unnamed item.

Langham Brewery at Lodsworth and Munneries at East Wittering are both inside this district. Neither is owed a large sum, but a £474 or a £1,323 invoice matters more to a village brewery than a £58,025 assessment does to HMRC, and neither is likely to see it.

Star and Garter: assets against claims Bar chart comparing the estimated realisable assets of Thomas Babb Brewing Company Limited, £1,100, with claims of £58,025.56 from HM Revenue and Customs and £38,664.96 from unsecured trade and expense creditors, giving a total deficiency as regards creditors of £95,598.52. £1,100 of assets against £96,690 of claims Thomas Babb Brewing Company Limited, trading as The Star & Garter, East Dean. Statement of affairs as at 22 July 2026. Estimated to realise from all assets £1,100 Owed to HM Revenue and Customs £58,025.56 Owed to unsecured trade and expense creditors £38,664.96 Bars are to scale. Book value of the assets was £73,788; the £1,100 is what the directors estimated they would raise. Source: statement of affairs, Companies House, filed 4 September 2026. Graphic by Chichester Live
The whole of the estimated asset value would not cover two per cent of the tax bill.

The pub is still open

The wind-up applies to the company, not to the building or the licence. A notice published in The Gazette on 31 July gave formal notice under section 216 of the Insolvency Act 1986 that a new company, The Star & Garter Goodwood Limited, was to acquire substantially the whole of the business and carry on trading under the same name. Publishing that notice is the statutory step that lets a former director of a liquidated company be involved in a successor using a similar name.

That successor company was incorporated on 24 April 2026 and has filed nothing at Companies House since, which is normal for a company in its first year. Its first accounts are not due yet.

The pub’s own website on 6 September was advertising food seven days a week, rooms, live music on Sundays and a new mobile catering service, with no mention of the liquidation.

What it means for you

If you have a booking or a room reserved: nothing on the public record says the pub is closing, and the pub is advertising normally. Any question about a specific booking goes to the pub.

If the company owes you money: claims go to the joint liquidators, Alexander Kinninmonth and James Prior of FRP Advisory Trading Limited, at Oxford Point, 19 Oxford Road, Bournemouth. The Gazette notice gave Terena Ellis as the contact on 01202 048037. A figure in a statement of affairs is the directors’ estimate. Every claim is still subject to agreement by the liquidators, and a creditor whose claim is understated or missing is not prejudiced by that.

If you are a supplier to a local pub or restaurant: the schedule is a reminder that trade credit sits behind HMRC in the queue. Here the assets were estimated at £1,100 against £38,665 of supplier claims.

The next filing to watch is the liquidators’ progress report, due within a year of their appointment on 5 August. It will say what the assets actually raised.

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