Started in 2003, the company operates a 65,000-square-foot brewing facility on Bridgeview Drive
Surrey-based Central City Brewers and Distillers Ltd and subsidiary CCBD Realty Holding Corp were granted creditor protection in B.C. Supreme Court on Thursday, Nov. 21.
PricewaterhouseCoopers Inc. was appointed as monitor of the company, and the initial order provides for a stay of proceedings to Dec. 1. Court documents, including a long list of creditors, are found on pwc.com/ca/centralcity.
The next court application will be Thursday, Nov. 28, as a “comeback hearing,” the website notes.
Meantime, it’s “business as usual” at Central City Brewing, marketing director Jimmy Darbyshire posted on Facebook Wednesday.
“Central City Brewers + Distillers DID NOT declare bankruptcy and we are not in receivership,” he wrote. “We are in creditor protection and are in the process of restructuring the business.”
Among the hundreds of creditors listed, Central City’s primary secured lenders, Canadian Western Bank and Business Development Bank of Canada, have balances of $28.3 million and $23.6 million, respectively.
In an affidavit, company president Darryll Frost says Central City is principally engaged in the production, wholesale distribution and retail sale of liquor products. Incorporated in May 2023, CCBD Realty Holdings Corp. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Central City.
Central City started as a brewpub in 2003 at Central City Shopping Centre in Surrey, and later moved to a 65,000-square-foot brewing facility on Bridgeview Drive, near Pattullo Bridge. The site includes a tasting room and 10,000-square-foot retail liquor store.
The award-winning company brews Red Racer beer and distills Lohin McKinnon whiskey and Queensborough gin, among other brands of liquor.
“Although we currently have 77 employees,” Frost’s affidavit reads, “before COVID-19 Central City had over 200 employees, and three more restaurant and retail locations than we have today. The brewery was operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We were in expansion mode at the end of 2019 and into 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
“When the shutdowns started, we were mid-construction on a new canning line, which ended up getting finished at a higher cost and later than anticipated. This and other factors described later in my affidavit contributed to the financial situation Central City is in today.”
Central City is a widely held private company, Frost’s affidavit notes. Shares are owned by numerous individuals and companies, including four companies which are guarantors of the petitioners’ bank debt, all with variations of the Bridgeview Ventures name.
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