Klose & Soan Deptford and Bellona Lewisham in Liquidation

Two businesses in the borough have gone into creditors’ voluntary liquidation this month. One runs the Klose & Soan restaurant on Deptford High Street. The other runs Bellona’s furniture shop on Lewisham High Street.

Both were recorded in The London Gazette, the official public record, over the past week.

Klose & Soan, 209 Deptford High Street

Members of Klose & Soan Banquets Limited voted to wind the company up at a meeting in Orpington on 17 September (Gazette notice 5214558). The notice gives its trading name as Klose and Soan and its trading address as 209 Deptford High Street, SE8 3NT.

A second notice records the type of liquidation as “Creditors” and the nature of the business as “Restaurant” (Gazette notice 5214632). The liquidators were appointed the same day by members and creditors.

The company’s own website describes the Deptford venue as a “cosy neighbourhood hospitality space”. It lists evening opening from Wednesday to Saturday, 6pm to 10pm. At the time of writing it carries no closure notice.

A separate company, Klose & Soan Catering Limited, is still listed as active at Companies House. The notices do not say whether the catering side or the Deptford venue will carry on in another form.

Bellona, 219-221 Lewisham High Street

Members of Bellona (Lewisham) UK Limited passed a resolution to wind the company up at a virtual meeting on 22 September (Gazette notice 5218401). The notice gives its principal trading address as 219-221 Lewisham High Street, SE13 6LY.

The appointment notice lists the business as “Furniture sales” and the type of liquidation as a creditors’ voluntary liquidation (Gazette notice 5218400). Two joint liquidators from BTG Begbies Traynor (Central) LLP in Northampton were appointed on 22 September.

The company was incorporated in December 2018, according to its Companies House record. A notice on 11 September called a virtual meeting of creditors for 22 September, to decide on the nomination of liquidators (Gazette notice 5209931).

The key dates

What a creditors’ voluntary liquidation means

In a creditors’ voluntary liquidation, the directors and shareholders decide the company cannot pay its debts. A licensed insolvency practitioner then takes control. They sell what the company owns and share the money among the people it owes.

It does not always mean the shop or the name disappears. Assets, including a brand, can be sold to a new owner. Neither set of notices says that has happened here.

What it means for you

If you paid Bellona for furniture that has not arrived, or paid Klose & Soan a deposit for a booking, you are likely to be an unsecured creditor.

• Contact the liquidators. The Bellona notices name Chris Kalogritsas at BTG Begbies Traynor as the contact, on 0208 370 7250. For Klose & Soan, the notice gives the joint liquidators at FRP Advisory on 0208 302 4344, or cp.orpington@frpadvisory.com.
• Check how you paid. Citizens Advice says a credit card payment for a single item costing more than £100 and no more than £30,000 can be claimed back from the card provider under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act. That applies even if only part of the cost went on the card.
• Debit card or smaller amounts. Citizens Advice says you can ask your bank for a “chargeback” instead. PayPal disputes must be opened within 180 days of paying.

Both companies are entitled to respond to anything in this report, and we will add any statement they send us.

For other changes on the borough’s high streets, see our planning applications page.