LAWYERS are still pursuing “potential rights of action” in the case of a Sandbanks cafe which went bust after a fire broke out almost six years ago.

Cafe Shore was gutted by an electrical blaze in August 2014 and its operator Lucy Enterprises later went into administration owing around £451,000.

A liquidator subsequently discovered that an insurance claim over the fire had been rejected. He also reported that a total of £164,000 had been borrowed from the Banks Road business by its directors.

Directors’ loan accounts were overdrawn to the tune of £101,604 for director Benjamin Brafman and £63,159 for his mother Julia Brafman, liquidator Simon Renshaw of AABRS said.

Mr Brafman was subsequently disqualified as a director for a period of four years and six months, which ends on August 20, 2021.

In his latest report, Mr Renshaw said he anticipated his work “will bring a financial benefit to creditors”.

He said law firm Coffin Mew LLP had been instructed over the denied insurance claim and the directors’ loan accounts.

He was “continuing to liaise with Coffin Mew LLP and other relevant parties regarding the potential rights of action identified”. He had explored ways of funding further actions and had entered into a “suitable arrangement”, with an initial payment to the law firm of £5,000.

“At present, I am unable to disclose any further information as to do so may jeopardise potential recoveries,” he wrote.

The business’s secured creditors were an employee owed £538 and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, which is owed £3,278.

The liquidator has received claims totalling £355,378 from 19 unsecured creditors. He believes there are another 21 whose claims total £92,056.

A number of local suppliers are among the creditors.

The liquidator’s time costs since 2015 have amounted to £36,612, while solicitors’ fees have totalled almost £10,500.

A previous company which ran Cafe Shore, called Cafe Shore Limited, also had Julia Brafman as a director. It was liquidated in March 2013 with debts of £404,000.

Its assets were sold to Lucy Enterprises for £25,000, of which only £6,167 was received, according to a previous report.

The cafe premises was subsequently taken over by Rick Stein at Sandbanks, which has no connection with the business.