Twist in weddings saga as links to rogue hotel investment scheme are revealed

CONFUSION has continued over the future of Durker Roods Hotel and the dozens of weddings booked there this summer.

Concerns were raised after people with weddings looming found they were unable to contact anyone and that the Meltham venue had not reopened after lockdown as allowed.

Following our story, a worker at the firm ‘Big Day Wedding’ emailed a number of customers claiming that everything was fine and the hotel would open on June 16, a copy of which we have seen. But no one from Big Day Wedding, which operates from the website www.bigday wedding.co.uk, has responded to us to confirm Durker Roods’ future.

Many worried brides and groomsto-be have also confirmed they have been unable to contact the firm or any employee of the hotel.

The Examiner’s sister website, YorkshireLive, understands all Durker Roods’ employees were made redundant last year. It is thought more than two dozen weddings are planned for the venue this summer.

Over the weekend Big Day Wedding updated its Instagram and Facebook

accounts again vowing that a June 16 reopening was planned.

But it also accidentally put out an Instagram message to concerned customers that contained an internal memo instructing a colleague to fob off all enquiries with claims of problems with their website and emails.

It told the employee to tell all concerned customers to email a member of staff that YorkshireLive understands has left the business.

According to a Land Registry title search, Durker Roods changed hands in 2019. The most recent listing says it is owned by Cheshire based IOW Ventnor Limited, which was incorporated in July 2019 by Michael James McMahon. But a sign on the door of the closed hotel says ownership has transferred from 50/50 Services Limited to Hospitality Management Services Ltd. Mr McMahon is listed as a former director of 50/50 Services Limited, resigning in February.

YorkshireLive has also discovered that a firm forcibly closed by the courts for “misleading investors and misappropriating funds” is linked to Big Day Wedding and Durker Roods.

In January, Cheshire-based Merydion Corporation was shut down by the authorities for its part in a scam that took more than £3m from investors that was supposed to be used to refurbish hotels.

Merydion offered hotel rooms for investment including at Durker Roods, the Star Hotel in Great Yarmouth, Northop Hall Hotel in Wales and the Belgrave Hotel in Chester.

Members of the public were asked to invest £44,950 to buy a 149-year lease of room in a hotel. The firm said the money raised would be used to renovate the hotels and investors were told the closed venues would rebrand and reopen. They never did. An investigation by the Insolvency Service found the directors of Merydion kept most of the money for