A third-generation family-run firm has gone into liquidation after its energy bills neared £15,000 per month.

Taylormade Castings, a foundry in Stoke owned by a Haverhill-based family which produced metal products such as fences and garden furniture, appointed liquidators from McTear Williams & Wood on September 12, leaving creditors short by nearly £300,000.

Taylors Foundry, a separate business located in Haverhill and owned by the same director, remains solvent.

Liquidator Jo Watts said the Stoke-based foundry, which employed 14 people, had been profitable as recently as 2019.

She said: "It was profitable up until very recently. Unfortunately, the trigger was Covid. While they tried to stay open, a lot of their customers were closed so their turnover reduced significantly.

"From the beginning of 2022, the energy costs were also a factor. But I think it was more sort of the final nail in the coffin, rather than the only reason.

"With a business like this their energy costs are significant – one of the major costs – because it's a foundry in there running these great big furnaces 24 hours a day."

Ms Watts said the firm's monthly energy bill spiked to nearly £15,000 in 2022 after prices rocketed.

All 14 staff have been made redundant, though a handful of staff are currently being retained while the business is wound down.

The firm held assets totalling more than £500,000 when it went into liquidation. Ms Watts said these assets included machinery such as furnaces, a long-term lease on a building owned by the Duchy of Lancaster and more than £200,000 it was owed by debtors.

Among the creditors is EDF energy which is owed almost £50,000.

HMRC is owed nearly £190,000 in unpaid tax, while the Duchy of Lancaster is owed £60,000.

Ms Watts said the liquidator plans to auction off the property and expects to return creditors some of their cash.

"The unsecured creditors are likely to get somewhere between 15 and 20 pence in the pound," she said. "That's obviously dependent on all the debtors paying and us realising what we expect for the property in the auction."