Amaroo Stonehouse, Canberra, closes amid claims of unpaid supplier debts

A popular Canberra watering hole has flicked the taps off and shut its doors in a bitter battle over an allegedly unpaid $5k supplier debt to a well-known brewer.

Stonehouse Pub, Amaroo. Picture: Supplied.

A popular Canberra watering hole has flicked the taps off and shut its doors in a bitter battle over an allegedly unpaid $5k supplier debt to a well-known brewer.

Stonehouse Amaroo, a family business in operation for the past four years, announced on social media it had closed on February 27.

Capital Brewing, one of Australia’s top 10 independent breweries, has claimed the pub failed to settle outstanding invoices – some overdue for more than six weeks.

It is alleged the sum of $3600 is six weeks overdue, and the rest four weeks overdue.

“They’ve taken the stock and they haven’t used the money that they’ve made through sales to pay suppliers”, Laurence Kain, Capital Brewing Co-Founder claimed.

“We’ve supplied them for a couple years and we have 300 different accounts with different venues in Canberra and up and down the East Coast… but this doesn’t occur regularly.

“They were unable to meet their bills and now have unpaid suppliers, but they could have acted proactively.

Stonehouse Pub in Amaroo, ACT. Picture: Supplied.

A public comment on the Stonehouse Amaroo Instagram page reads: “You still have outstanding accounts with suppliers - please do the right thing and ensure you pay the bills.”

A comment by another account replied with “not just the suppliers they need to look after.”

“We took a risk to chase a dream,” Stonehouse owners wrote in their closure post.

“Being a family run business takes on a whole level of commitment many do not realise. Some say when they enter, it’s like coming home.”

For Capital Brewing, a Canberra-based brewery founded by Tom Hertel and Laurence Kain in 2016, the alleged unpaid debt is “problematic”.

“For a small business, someone not paying $5000 hurts,” Mr Kain said.

Despite the closure of the pub not being explicitly linked to financial strain, it’s indicative of a broader tone in the industry, Mr Kain said.

“When you operate a discretionary spend business, if you are experiencing cost increases and a downturn in consumer spending, it creates a perfect storm,” he said.

“50% of a beer is tax… whether GST, payroll or excise tax, it drives the costs to the businesses.”

Picture: Supplied.

The market for small brewers and providers is also being strained by foreign competition.

“The concentration of the market for brewing is difficult, 85% of the beer is controlled by two Japanese companies, they set the prices on the shelf and then small companies have to compete.”

Despite the alleged unpaid debt, Mr Kain said he does understand the challenges operators face.

“You have to look on a human level and the human impact of closing a business,” he said.

The Amaroo Stonehouse Pub was contacted for comment but did not respond by deadline.

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Originally published as Amaroo Stonehouse, Canberra, closes amid claims of unpaid supplier debts