Revealed: Liquidation and trail of debt of 'Keep Edinburgh Thriving' co-founder Robbie Allen: £125,000 owed to HMRC + further £100,000 owed to suppliers
Reader tip-offs lead to investigation. Alan ‘Nashy’ Nash insists he had 'no prior knowledge' of project's past. Local businesses say they feel 'insulted'.
The duo behind one of Edinburgh’s fastest-growing social media projects have split after a trail of debt and unpaid tax totalling over £200,000 was revealed by Minute readers.
Recently, Keep Edinburgh Thriving made a name for itself by celebrating the city’s independent traders. It gathered more than 20,000 Instagram followers since October, having posted hundreds of small-business profile videos. But the brand’s previous iteration ended in liquidation, with thousands of pounds owed to local suppliers.
Alan ‘Nashy’ Nash, is the well-known face of Keep Edinburgh Thriving’s latest reincarnation, fronting its videos which have racked up millions of views. There is no suggestion of wrongdoing on his part and he says he had 'no prior knowledge' of the project's past. An experienced local events and podcast host, he joined the project in October 2025. He previously ran Edinburgh-based ACE Property Management for 18 years before the firm was sold for a seven figure sum in 2024.
Keep Edinburgh Thriving’s website says: ‘We genuinely care about supporting Edinburgh’, with slogans including: ‘Keep it local. Keep it thriving’.
But before Nash joined Keep Edinburgh Thriving, the project’s original founder Robbie Allen was ordered by court to wind up his company due to six-figure debts owed to the taxpayer and owed to suppliers of his liquidated firm, which also used the same name, from April 2020 onwards.
Local suppliers who were, and still are, owed money shared their evidence with The Edinburgh Minute, which prompted this report.
One supplier, who asked to remain anonymous, said: “You need to investigate this. When we saw the Keep Edinburgh Thriving brand return, it left such a bitter taste. Nashy is not the problem. Before he was involved, it was Robbie Allen featuring in the (now deleted) videos claiming he was supporting local businesses. It was insulting to us because the same guy left us hanging when every penny and pound mattered after the pandemic. Then we saw them at a founders-only networking event and it set off alarm bells for us. Using AI for their branding instead of local artists was a red flag for a lot of people. The whole thing is disingenuous and comes across as desperate for success at any cost.”
Keep Edinburgh Thriving had a rate card charging local businesses £250 to feature in an Instagram Reel video, with £50 add-ons for Instagram Stories or TikTok cross-posts. Its rate was £50 for a newsletter feature. The rate card was on its website but is now deleted.
Keep Edinburgh Thriving originally launched as a local makers’ produce gift box mail order service in 2020, with Allen saying at the time: “This is a really tough time for our beloved high street, and we want to help as many local Edinburgh businesses as possible. As soon as you place an order this instantly benefits our local partners providing the products in each gift box.”
The boxes included products from local brands including Bellfield Brewery, Coco Chocolatier, The Scottish Bee Company, Pickering's Gin, Bare Beauty Botanicals, Roots Soda and The Wax Jungle.
The firm grew rapidly, with Allen claiming it had generated more than £600,000 in revenue for small independent business after 8,000 gift box orders.
Allen was named ‘Pivot Entrepreneur of the Year’ at the 2020 Great British Entrepreneur Awards and was one of the faces of the UK Government’s Great Inspirations campaign. He was described as a 'lockdown hero'.
But things quickly soured when delivery logistics firm DHL took Allen’s firm to court in 2022. A Sheriff issued a winding-up order as debts had mounted to at least £231,000. After trying to revive the project multiple times, Allen has now stepped away, saying last week that ‘supply chains collapsed and fulfilment partners failed’.
A legal investigation revealed that five suppliers were owed £104,040 when the business, legally named ‘The Thriving Box Company’, was finally dissolved following liquidation in March 2024.
A further £126,971 was owed by Allen’s firm to HMRC for unpaid VAT, PAYE and Corporation Tax, according to Companies House documents.
Liquidator Brian Milne said:
“My main enquiries have centred on my investigations around company funds drawn from by the director, Robbie Allen, in the lead up to my appointment as Provisional Liquidator in August 2022.
“Initially I carried out forensic bank analysis of the Company's banking records. I was able to determine that Mr Allen withdrew significant funds from the Company account, including sums amounting to £75,000 in April 2022, some 3 months prior to my appointment as Provisional Liquidator, with no adequate explanation or evidence to support payment of such sums.
“In the absence of any such information or proposals for repayment of the sums, I instructed my solicitor to raise proceedings against Mr Allen and a decree was subsequently granted in my favour. However, having carried out further investigations as regards to Mr Allen's personal financial circumstances, in absence of any known asset or income information, in the absence of any liquidation estate funds from which to pursue Mr Allen further, I wrote to creditors and sought funding to allow me to explore further recovery methods. Unfortunately, no creditors have offered any such funding.
“Therefore, with the prospects of recovery from any such action appearing to be remote, and with the lack of available funds at my disposal in any event, I did not pursue this matter any further. Within three months of my appointment as Liquidator, I am required to submit a confidential report to the Secretary of State to include any matters which have come to my attention during the course of my work which may indicate that the conduct of any past or present Director would make them unfit to be concerned with the management of the Company. I would confirm that my report has been submitted.”
HMRC said it cannot comment on the record about individual taxpayers or businesses.
After questions from The Edinburgh Minute, nearly 100 posts relating to Allen’s mail-order business were deleted from the Keep Edinburgh Thriving Instagram page last weekend.
Having rebranded to HappyCo in 2021 - reviewers gave the gift box delivery service an average of 1.5 out of 5 on Trustpilot. Initial reviews were positive, but later one reviewer said: “This company has gone from great to horrible. Not sure what's going on behind the scenes.” The owner is also named in some reviews, with one saying: “Robbie was great from start to finish” while another said: “Spoke to ‘Robbie’ who was very unhelpful, borderline rude, and tried to fob me off to DPD to sort”.
With no cash in the business’s bank account, liquidators weren’t able to repay any of the suppliers nor HMRC. Liquidator Brian Milne, whose own costs of £26,000 also had to be written off, said that meant there could be no further legal action:
“I have thoroughly investigated the Company's banking records and the sums withdrawn from the company bank account prior to my appointment. Unfortunately, there were no other assets belonging to the company, and therefore we could not fund the legal action required to pursue ingathering these funds. This was noted in letters to creditors and my previous report.”
'I’m genuinely sorry'
Robbie Allen and Alan Nash were contacted for comment. Nash cooperated and was respectful in his dealings with the process of this report.
After asking for extra time and being granted more than a week to reply, Allen eventually declined to comment, only saying he didn’t feel confident that he would be ‘treated impartially’ in any coverage.
Then on Wednesday 28 January, after questioning from The Edinburgh Minute over the past two months, Allen posted an admission on Instagram:
“I want to share something openly with everyone. My name is Robbie and for a short period between October and December 2025 I helped Nashy with some behind the scenes support as he explored this media project. A few years ago during Covid I ran a business. In 2020 the original trading name was Keep Edinburgh Thriving and I later launched The Thriving Box Company Ltd. It grew quickly and when supply chains collapsed and fulfilment partners failed the business couldn’t survive. It went into liquidation and people were affected — suppliers, partners and HMRC.
“I’m genuinely sorry for that. I’ve carried the lessons from that experience every day since. That chapter is mine alone. It has nothing to do with Nashy or what he’s building now. What Nashy has created comes from his own efforts. His passion, his energy and his commitment. He’s out there meeting local businesses, telling their stories and putting in the work. I’ve simply been cheering him on from the sidelines and supported when required. I’ve seen first‑hand the authenticity he brings to this. He’s building something that can genuinely help Edinburgh’s independent community and beyond. I hope people continue to support what he’s doing. He deserves it. I wish him all the best as he moves forward and I’m lucky to call him my mate.”
Now working solo on Keep Edinburgh Thriving, Alan Nash sent this statement to The Edinburgh Minute:
“Robbie Allen and I met for the first time in late September 2025. I had no involvement with, and no prior knowledge of, 'The Thriving Box Company Ltd' or its operations. I was not connected to that company during the period covered by the liquidation report or ever and have no knowledge of its finances, including the £75,000 referred to in the liquidator’s report and your e-mail.
“‘Keep Edinburgh Thriving’ is a passion project for me, as a community-focused media project promoting local Edinburgh businesses. It is distinct in nature and purpose from ‘The Thriving Box Company Ltd’, which was a gift box business.
“I allocated myself three months to throw everything I have into developing it to see if it had legs. Robbie Allen has no ownership or management role in ‘Keep Edinburgh Thriving’ or any of my current or proposed business activities. He is not a co-Founder of any business I operate and it is incorrect to state that I was a co-Founder of any business associated to Robbie Allen.
“To be completely clear, ‘Keep Edinburgh Thriving’ is, as it stands, not an official registered company with HMRC and never has been. There is no need for me to register a Section 216 notice as I have no affiliation with 'The Thriving Box Company Ltd’ and its history. ‘Keep Edinburgh Thriving’ is free for any third party to use.
“Following the growth in the last three months, I will be pushing forward and a company will be registered under my name only, owned 100% by me. 'Keep Edinburgh Thriving’ will be the trading name. Local firms and the people of Edinburgh can trust me as everything you see online is authentic and bears no relation to the matters you address.”
UPDATE: Shortly after publication, a reader sent the Minute a link to this Tweet, in which Robbie Allen reveals Keep Edinburgh Thriving is based on a playbook, which can be bought for $499:
Public interest disclaimer:
Transparency and Accountability: This report is published in the interests of transparency and accountability regarding the use of public resources and the conduct of a former company director.
Protection of Public Revenue: Disclosure is justified by the public interest in protecting public revenue, specifically the reported £126,971 in unpaid HMRC tax.
Commercial Morality: This report aims to uphold standards of commercial morality by disclosing information related to the impact on traders who were left unpaid. Some of those local suppliers who are owed money shared their evidence with The Edinburgh Minute, which first prompted investigations.
Fair and Accurate Reporting: The Edinburgh Minute has made every effort to ensure this is a fair and accurate report based on publicly available court notices and legal documents. It has been legally reviewed and cleared.
Right of Reply: In accordance with responsible journalism, the subjects of this report were offered a right of reply to ensure a balanced perspective.
Director Conduct: A court decree was granted against the director for the return of £75,000, which the Liquidator found was removed shortly before the firm's collapse.
Financial Impact: The taxpayer was left £126,971 out of pocket, while suppliers were owed over £104,000.
🔎 Minute investigations:
Got a hunch about something and want it investigated? Send it in. The Minute works with journalists and lawyers with decades of experience to uncover the facts and report impartially. Previous reader tip-offs uncovered:
🥯 Dozens of companies owed a total of £102,916 from Bross Bagels.
💰 The tax-evading Princes Street shops costing taxpayers thousands.
Jim Waterson
Edinburgh Minute
