Church Equestrian directors file prohibited-name notice to continue trading
Directors of Church Equestrian Limited, which entered insolvent liquidation in December 2024, have filed a Section 216 notice to trade on under the same name. Full notice and Companies House record.
Information for general guidance, drawn from the public record. Not legal, financial, or insolvency advice. If you are affected by an insolvency, consult a licensed practitioner or qualified solicitor.
Michael Adam John Church and Louise Victoria Church have filed a Section 216 prohibited-name notice stating their intention to carry on the business of Church Equestrian Limited through a new company, after the original vehicle entered insolvent liquidation on 19 December 2024.
The new company, MLC Fixings Ltd, will trade as Church Equestrian, the same name used by the liquidated business. The notice was published in the London Gazette on 25 June 2026 and filed under rule 22.4 of the Insolvency (England and Wales) Rules 2016.
What Section 216 means
Section 216 of the Insolvency Act 1986 prohibits a director of a company that has gone into insolvent liquidation from being involved in another company using the same or a sufficiently similar name for five years, unless the court grants permission or a statutory exception applies. A breach is a criminal offence and can also make the director personally liable for the debts of the successor company.
Filing a notice under rule 22.4 is one of those exceptions. It allows the director to continue trading under the prohibited name without court leave, provided the notice is given to every known creditor of the insolvent company and published in the London Gazette within 28 days of acquiring the business.
The insolvent company
Church Equestrian Limited was incorporated on 11 November 2016 and traded in the retail sale of sports goods, with SIC code 47640 covering that activity. Its principal trading address was 27 Salisbury Road, Haydock Industrial Estate, St. Helens. The registered office is now care of Marshall Peters at Heskin Hall Farm, Wood Lane, Heskin.
The company filed total-exemption-full accounts, the smallest reporting category available to qualifying small companies, made up to 30 November 2023.
The directors
Michael Church has been a director since incorporation on 11 November 2016. Louise Church joined the board on 1 June 2018. Both are resident in England and are named jointly in the notice as the parties intending to act in connection with MLC Fixings Ltd. A third director, Martin Stuart Bentham, served from 27 July 2018 until his resignation on 6 July 2022 and is not a party to the notice.
The successor vehicle
MLC Fixings Ltd, company number 16038504, is the entity through which the Churches intend to carry on the business. The notice confirms that each of them intends to act in the ways specified in section 216(3) of the Insolvency Act 1986 in connection with that company's operations under the Church Equestrian trading name.
Common questions
Are you a director of the successor company?
A prohibited-name Gazette notice typically documents one of the three statutory exceptions to Section 216 of the Insolvency Act 1986 (the rule against re-use of a similar name by a former director of a liquidated company). The exception is only valid if the notice meets the timing and content requirements in the relevant Rule. Read more on prohibited names.
Do you trade with the successor company?
A valid notice does not by itself revive the liabilities of the liquidated company. The successor company is a separate legal entity and the directors are personally exposed only if Section 216 is breached.
Sources
- The London Gazette notice (code Moratoria, Prohibited Names and Other: Re-use of a Prohibited Name)
- Companies House record 10474440
- Editorial standards: how we source and review; five-pass pipeline.
