‘Who is holding on to all the money for deposits?’
MUM OF BRIDE HIT BY WEDDING HOTEL’S SUDDEN CLOSURE TELLS OF ‘EXTREME STRESS AND UPSET’
COUPLES with weddings booked at a popular hotel have been left fearing the worst amid uncertainty about the venue’s future.
The Durker Roods country house hotel in Meltham is a popular wedding venue but it appears to have closed.
The firm’s website has been taken down, its Facebook page has not been updated since September and its phone number has been disconnected. No phone number or email has been made available for customers to make enquiries.
One concerned mother of a bride contacted The Examiner’s sister website, YorkshireLive, revealing that her daughter was due to get married at the Holme Valley venue in October this year. She said the wedding planner was no longer contactable and there was no way of contacting anyone associated with the venue which was causing the family “extreme stress, upset and worry”.
They have paid a £750 deposit which they fear they will never get back.
“Who is actually holding on to all the money for the deposits which have been paid?” she said.
They have managed to find a new venue at short notice.
Dozens more weddings are likely to have been booked for this spring and summer, many delayed from last year when weddings were banned due to coronavirus.
The hotel has changed hands a number of times in recent years and a sign on the door confirms it has once more.
A message posted on the hotel entrance says ownership has transferred from 50/50 Services Limited to Hospitality Management Services Ltd.
A check on Company’s House reveals the two firms are run by the same sole person, Philip Heron-Carne.
Hospitality Management Services Ltd’s address is at a small airport in Salford used as a flying school.
Mr Heron-Carne is also listed as a director of the similarly named Prestige Hospitality Management Service Ltd, also based at the First Floor Business Centre at Barton Airport in Eccles.
The hotel was last in the spotlight in 2016 when Sheffield -based Harimoor Hospitality Limited vowed it was ploughing a “seven figure sum” into a revamp of the historic property - the former home of industrialist and Aston Martin company owner Sir David Brown.
Harimoor Hospitality has since gone bust, records confirm, as has previous owners Durker Roods Hotels Limited.
Durker Roods, which has 29 bedrooms as well as a banqueting suite, lounge bar and meeting rooms was built in 1870 as a gentleman’s residence.
It was converted into a hotel in the 1970s after being the family home of Sir David Brown, best-known for his gears and tractors businesses as well as being a one-time owner of iconic car marque Aston Martin, whose vehicles still use his DB initials for their models.