A FORMER bars boss from Radcliffe - who left the taxman with a £377,000 bill - has been disqualified for three years.

An inquiry was launched by the Insolvency Service after B&W Logistics went under in the summer of 2018.

The company was behind a series of Bierkeller Bavarian style bars, with a successful first location in Leeds followed by other venues in Nottingham, Cardiff, Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool.

But administrators said that while each made successful starts, footfall dropped off and four of the bars were hived off into a separate company.

An investor pledged £1m for refurbishments and a new location was secured in Bradford. But the promised revamp funding was withdrawn and with contractors unable to be paid, administration followed.

The Insolvency Service investigation found that Mr Howarth, 34, of Higher Ainsworth Road, had been at the helm, after a winding-up petition had been lodged by HM Revenue and Customs for B&W, when payments totalling more than £1.13m had been paid out to connected companies.

This included assets belonging to B&W, with several payments being made to connected companies, the largest of which was £700,000 on May 30, 2018.

An Insolvency Service spokesman said: "During the period May 17 to June 21 no payments were made by B&W to HMRC. The connected companies who received payments are not listed as creditors in the administration of B&W nor have they submitted a proof of debt in the proceedings."

Trade creditors were owed £1,144,966 at the point of administration and the outstanding liability to HM Revenue and Customs was £377,257.

The company was dissolved in July 2019, with administrators unsuccessful in efforts to recoup funds from debtors. Mr Howarth's company director disqualification runs until May 2020.