Brewuk website "down for maintenance"

[The drunken cyclist]

I ordered a heavily discounted anvil brew kettle just over a week ago which came next day
Maybe I was lucky

 

[LeeH]

Greg Hughes resigned as a director of Brew UK sometime ago, so may have nothing to do with them anymore

Another Hughes still does though.

 

[RichardM]

Another Hughes still does though.

And a third Hughes is a director of Dark Star, along with Greg

 

[nibber]

Looks like they have gone **** up.
They went downhill ages ago through lockdown,never used them since.

 

[Mayor of Simpleton]

Looks like they have gone **** up.
They went downhill ages ago through lockdown,never used them since.

That was my experience as well sadly.

 

[James]

They shifted the ownership up by adding a holding company, Greg resigned, his wife left as sole director butGreg still has a formal charge over the assets so must have money in it.
Probably an ownership shuffle to avoid everything being grouped together for tax purposes. Certainly to separate it from the brewing operation in case something like this happened…..

 

[Siscokid85]

Bugger! I was just trying to check on the staus of my BAC disc order at the weekend- from Nov. Looks like they're not going to arrive!Came on here looking for news.
The Cos House filing is just what used to be called the Annual return.

I know it doesn’t help in terms of having payed money out and potentially not getting your order. But I got fed up of waiting for bac brewing stock so ordered direct with BAC brewing on a credit card I knew done a decent exchange rate and 0%foreign transaction fee.

Service was first rate, €35 delivery for some filter discs but was with me in 48 hours and didn’t get stung for any import duty. Ordered with a mate so split the postage which helped.

Anyway hope brewuk ain’t gone and you get your order and aren’t out of pocket.

 

[James]

Judging by the fact the charge is to cover a debt as a result of a court order between Mr & Mrs and the addresses have changed I’d say that they are no longer a couple and the businesses have been separated as well. Closing the doors to new orders is likely to avoid claims of fraudulent/ insolvent trading. Possibly brought about by Gregg calling in the charge.
Divorce can be messy and it looks like the business is a casualty.

 

[aolcot]

They went downhill ages ago through lockdown,never used them since.

Yeah whilst lockdown was tough for all businesses, brewuk really didn't do well and I have an awful experience trying to return and get credit for a US pump they sold me incorrectly (they were sent US models themselves) a few days before the start of lockdown.. It took nearly four months for them to arrange a collection and refund me and because of that experience, I never went back for a very long time and I only recently used them again because they started to have sale items on SS brewtech.

Even then the most recent item wasn't without drama. I ordered an SSpunding valve as it was heavily reduced so I felt good value, but when I received it, it was clearly used at least a couple of times judging by the state of it. Anyway, I complained but agreed to clean it up and test it and in return they sent me a sack of grain as compensation. This was all like 2/3 weeks ago. I got the grain just fine probably a couple of weeks ago...

 

[Sandimas]

They went downhill ages ago through lockdown,never used them since.

I had an order from them about a week ago, couldn't get some of the grains I wanted but most were in stock. It was delivered promptly as usual.

Be interesting to know why you think they went downhill? I've been round all the big names, I started with BrewUK then eventually came back to them. they're not perfect but none of the others are too, they are all small endeavours so make mistakes. Some are cheaper but I've found the quality of their ingredients poorer (e.g. hops), some are a lot more expensive: I guess we all choose a different price/quality point.

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

I suspect like a lot of the homebrew shops , Brexit has had a negative impact on their businesses. I have bought a fair amount of SS Brewtech stuff from them over the years, but since brexit has kicked in, its now sadly prohibitive cost wise, to buy from any of them , if you're based outside the UK . I looked at buying a set of tap seals yesterday from the Malt Miller , I think the kit was £3.75 , but jumped to over £20 by the time I got to checkout. Plus from experience , with some shops, I get another bill before its delivered for extra vat on the shipping cost.

 

[Sadfield]

The lockdown comments are a bit harsh. They got swamp with orders from new customers when all the other retailers shut.

 

[RichardM]

I had an order from them about a week ago, couldn't get some of the grains I wanted but most were in stock. It was delivered promptly as usual.

Be interesting to know why you think they went downhill? I've been round all the big names, I started with BrewUK then eventually came back to them. they're not perfect but none of the others are too, they are all small endeavours so make mistakes. Some are cheaper but I've found the quality of their ingredients poorer (e.g. hops), some are a lot more expensive: I guess we all choose a different price/quality point.

All businesses make mistakes, it's nothing to do with their size. What matters is how often they make mistakes and how they correct them.
I have a mixed experience with BrewUK, not many mistakes, some corrected quickly and some not.

 

[aolcot]

The lockdown comments are a bit harsh. They got swamp with orders from new customers when all the other retailers shut.

It was a horrific time for sure for all retailers (amongst many sectors affected). I purchased my fair share of "stuff" during the lockdowns and all the retailers, couriers, etc adapted brilliantly to the situation and went above and beyond in my view with only minimal delays for the things I purchased.. I was so proud of our UK retailers at the time dealing with it.
My experience with Brewuk amounted to something I purchased and received before lockdown that then took 4 months of emails going unanswered for days/weeks on end, phones calls ringing out etc to finally have the item arranged for collection and refunded.

Sadly, experiences stick with people and seeing as they aren't the only supplier in the homebrew supplies space in the UK, I just chose other retailers for things I wanted to purchase. Even when I did go back and used them again, recently I had an item that had clearly been used and then returned back to brewuk (so a failing somewhere in their returns process it seems)

 

[Braufather]

I know it doesn’t help in terms of having payed money out and potentially not getting your order. But I got fed up of waiting for bac brewing stock so ordered direct with BAC brewing on a credit card I knew done a decent exchange rate and 0%foreign transaction fee.

Service was first rate, €35 delivery for some filter discs but was with me in 48 hours and didn’t get stung for any import duty. Ordered with a mate so split the postage which helped.

Anyway hope brewuk ain’t gone and you get your order and aren’t out of pocket.

I went on the site looking to get the filter disks too. I will try direct.

 

[AnimatedGIF]

The lockdown comments are a bit harsh. They got swamp with orders from new customers when all the other retailers shut.

I diasgree - people are simply recounting their experience.
BrewUK handled it really poorly when you compare to other homebrew retailers. No updates, no responses to contact, not even generic updates via website, Twitter etc.

 

[Sadfield]

BrewUK handled it really poorly when you compare to other homebrew retailers.

All the others shut, there were long threads about it at the time.

 

[Little Rock Brewing]

They are/were my go-to shop. I really like their all grain kits for the quality and the yeast was optional, so I could use CML or harvested yeast. I found them fantastic value for money. Took the VAT off and only charged £15 shipping to get it to me. My last order was close to 40Kg!
I'll be gutted if they've gone.

 

[HockleyPete]

Will be sorry to hear they've gone the cashback was useful but the website was painfully slow and harder to move around vs other retailers

You didn't seem to get order updates or Estimated delivery dates and didn't feel as slick as other sites

 

[RichardM]

All the others shut, there were long threads about it at the time.

I don't remember not being able to get supplies from a variety of suppliers during lockdown.