£50,000 of craft gin at auction after firm fails

CRAFT GIN worth £50,000 goes under the hammer today following the collapse of Keighley-based Gin Festival Limited.

Auctioneers have divided the gin – going up for auction online – into lots of two to six bottles so members of the public can get involved in the bidding as well as trade buyers.

The company went into administration last month after attempts to find a buyer for the struggling business failed.

Some 20 gin festivals – including events in Sheffield, Wakefield and Lincoln – had to be cancelled leaving the buyers of 20,000 advance tickets out of pocket.

Administrators Begbies Traynor have instructed auctioneers Eddisons CJM to dispose of the firm’s remaining assets

Eddisons CJM director Paul Cooper said: “The auction will see over 1,200 bottles of craft gin going under the hammer, some of which sold for more than £40 a bottle.

“We calculate the total retail value to be in excess of £50,000... and I imagine considerably more than that at festival prices.

“Everything in the auction is being sold without reserve, so it will make what it makes.”

Mr Cooper added: “We’re also auctioning huge quantities of mixers. We reckon we have something over seven thousand bottles and they are obviously being sold in larger quantities.”