The new owner of Black Sheep Brewery, Breal Group, has closed three of the business’s four pubs, surprising both employees and customers.

Black Sheep pour

The Tap & Kitchen and Mr Foleys in Leeds, and the Last Drop Inn in York have closed. The Three Legged Mare, in York, remains open.

“We are grateful to the staff at all these pubs, who have worked extremely hard over recent years to try to bring their pubs back to pre-covid levels,” said the company. “Despite their very best efforts, this has not materialised.

“There will also be a small number of redundancies associated with the company’s retail arm, at the head office in Masham. Having recently conducted an extensive review of our business, we have explored every angle to try to keep these locations trading profitably, but without success. Unfortunately, the only avenue left for us was the closure of these premises.

“It is always the last resort for us to make redundancies, and we are saddened to see such dedicated colleagues leaving us, at this time.”