Special Award for J Mark and Philip W Brewer: The Asset Stripping Bastards Order

Not a nice title, is it? But J Mark and Philip W Brewer are not nice men: they are, quite bluntly, Asset Stripping Bastards. So they get this ASBO to top all ASBOs:


These men are dangerous. Available in several different sizes: copy and post elsewhere freely: the world needs to be warned.

SPCK Bookshops Update from David Keen

Thanks to David Keen for another excellent roundup on the sad and sorry saga of the former SPCK Bookshops: well worth reading if you want a quick update on how things are panning out.

If he wasn't such a crook, I could almost feel sorry for J Mark Brewer. But he is a crook, and a prize plonker too if he thinks he's going to get away with all this: with the likes of Matt Wardman on his trail he's about as safe as a criminal being chased down by Inspector Poirot.

Interesting developments in Exeter too, which David seems to have missed from his roundup: now trading as GemStar Jewellery and Gifts, premises now owned by Messrs Anton and Joseph Lampo who bought the site for the princely sum of £507,000 back in September.

The Land Registry filing for the premises indicates the existence of "restrictive covenants" in place but doesn't tell us what those covenants consist of. Not exactly difficult to work out, though: Brewer tried to auction the premises earlier in the year but was scuppered by those covenants... which now seem to be comprehensively breached. So how, exactly, did he get away with making this sale? Scenes of dodgy dealings at the back door come to mind...

See the comments on 'Welcome to GemStar Jewellery and Gifts, Exeter' for relevant links, and Exeter: The Inside (Incomplete) Story: Part 1 and Part 2 for more background.

Fudging it at Durham Cathedral Shop

Oh dear. Poor Brewer brothers: caught with their pants down again, this time over a couple of bars of fudge.

Fudge, you see, is confectionary; and confectionery is vatable: the taxman is very hungry and he wants his cut of the takings. But at Durham Cathedral Shop they're selling it zero-rated.

Probably just another one of their dumb mistakes — like this little lot:

I suspect what this comes down to is typical, run of the mill Brewer incompetence — the kind of slapdash approach to business you’d expect from someone who:

1. Registers a company to manage the Durham Cathedral Shop under the name “Durham Cathederal Shop Management Co.” — of course, it’s possible that somebody else, equally incompetent, took care of the company registration. It’s also possible that this is a cynical way to ensure that anyone who files a claim against the “Durham Cathedral Shop Management Co.” will fail because there is, in fact, no such legal entity, but I honestly can’t see either of the Brewer Bros managing to think that far ahead, let alone that clearly;
2. Says he wants to disassociate his company from the SPCK name but continues trading under SPCK signage until Trading Standards launch an investigation;
3. Spells “Leicester” and “Worcester” as “Leichester” and “Worchester” — again, it’s entirely possible that somebody else, equally incompetent, compiled the list of shops and produced the map;
4. Denies expressing his condolences to the family of a man who committed suicide after he fired him — of course, it’s entirely possible that somebody else took the initiative for this…
5. Goes into panic mode the day before his bankruptcy filing is about to be scrutinised, realises that all the evidence needed to expose his folly is available online and starts firing off threatening C&D emails to all and sundry in a desperate bid to hide that evidence
6. When challenged about threatening Dave Walker into taking his SPCK/SSG posts down, says ‘I have no idea what you are on about’ ;
7. Can’t get the name of his own company right when he attempts to file it for bankruptcy;
8. Fails to realise that filing a UK company for bankruptcy in the USA is not allowed anyway;
9. Actually, I think that’s probably enough for now, but if someone else would like to continue this list, feel free to carry on.

How a law firm like Brewer & Pritchard PC manages to stay in business with such a klutz at the top remains a mystery…

It'd be hilarious if it wasn't wrecking people's lives and bringing Durham Cathedral into disrepute: the Fawlty Towers of Christian retail. Please, if you're reading this and you haven't signed the Petition to Save Durham Cathedral Bookshop, just get on over there now and sign it. These parasites must go.

We may have thieves in the cathedral, but we always reply to our post on time

So says the Dean of Durham in a recent message to those who have petitioned him about the vermin currently infesting Durham Cathedral's Great Kitchen:

For the avoidance of doubt:

I need to state once again that the Cathedral Chaper does not manage the shop in its Great Kichen. This is run as a franchise subject to strict business law, as it was in the days of SPCK. Not all petitioners appear to be clear that a franchise is a formal, legal arrangement to which the parties to it are bound.

I ask petitioner no. 273 (Daid Baxter) to note that this “business within the Cathedral” is NOT managed, is NOT controlled and is NOT run by the Cathedral itself. His comment that “letters sent to the Cathedral authorities go unanswered” is incorrect and I ask him to withdraw it. Whatever he means by this, I can assure him and everyone else that all correspondence addressed to the Cathdral is responded to efficiently and professionally (and, I need not add, all its debts are paid when due).

Michael Sadgrove
Dean

November 29, 2008, 3:43pm

I know churches tend to be infested by bats in the belfry or rats in the basement. But at Durham Cathedral it's worse, much worse: they've got Brewers in the Great Kitchen. Yuk. Disgusting. If you value your health, please don't go there.

The Dean seems to think they're stuck with 'em but there's a very simple solution: stop feeding 'em.

Starve the vermin out.