Creditors have been left fuming after the parent company of Farmers' City Market went into administration owing £831,000 in unpaid bills.
Farmers' Hypermarket, which owned the 12,000 sq ft premium fresh food store in Hampton Hill, Middlesex, was placed into administration on 7 January.
The store has since been bought for £42,000 by a new company, Shopping Redefined, whose directors include Chris Tomaszewski and Ian Padfield, two former shareholders in Farmers' Hypermarket.
But although two of the founders, Jana Satchi and Stephen Wilkinson, are still running the store they founded in 2006, the former directors of Farmers' Hypermarket are not directors or shareholders in the new company, and are acting as "advisers", according to Tomaszewski.
Farmers' Hypermarket only continued trading over Christmas because it had 300 turkey orders and needed "to avoid a Farepak situation", said administrators.
A letter sent to creditors from Vantis Business Recovery Services highlighted accounting problems. "The company had not allowed for a £95,000 rent deposit that was required to be paid to the landlord on completion of the lease. This unexpected outlay contributed towards the financial difficulties," said the document, which also revealed the main creditors were NatWest, owed £261,260, HMRC, owed £71,700 and EDF, owed £31,822. Satchi and Wilkinson are also listed as creditors, having invested £72,750 each.
"There is no way I can see any creditor getting a penny," said Warren Prestwich, a partner in R&G Herbs, which is owed £2,323.
"We are deeply disappointed," said Martin Haines, from WR Haines, which supplied brassicas and is owed £3,140. "We traded in good faith."
Satchi and Wilkinson were unavailable for comment but Tomaszewski said: "Shopping Redefined has nothing to do with the previous company. Farmers' Hypermarket went into administration and Shopping Redefined bought the assets out."
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