Keelham Farm Shop, Skipton: Administrators appointed after award-winning business closes its doors

In a statement, the joint administrators said: “Keelham Farm Shop is an award-winning food hall and restaurant. The food hall offers customers the freshest local produce and features an on-site butcher and baker. The brand has both an online and in-store product offering, as well as serving meals to customers from its Skipton site. It employs around 100 people.”

The business is currently not trading, whilst the administrators undertake a sale process.

Jonny Marston, Joint Administrator, commented: “The business has experienced financial difficulty in recent months as a result of cost inflation, which ultimately led to cashflow problems and the business ceasing to trade last week.

"The joint administrators’ priority is to explore options to sell the business as a going concern and have already been made aware of interest from several parties. Interested parties are invited to register their interest directly.”

Any interested parties should contact a member of the Joint Administrators’ team, the statement said.

Earlier this week, a statement provided on the behalf of directors Gerard Downes, James and Josephine Wellock and James Worrall said: “It is with real regret that we announce that Keelham Food Hall has taken the difficult step to close. Over the last 18 months, we have done all we can to try and turn around the business and keep it going, by creating a differentiated local food offering with adjacent services and experiences for customers, rebranding our store, as well as taking action to simplify our supply chain.

"Despite these efforts, a combination of factors including cost of living pressures, food inflation and higher interest rates means we simply have not been able to attract enough regular shoppers to cover the ever-increasing fixed overheads of the store and create a viable business moving forward.

"There are active efforts being made for the business to be taken over to secure jobs as soon as possible.”