Historic Newcastle events venue The Assembly Rooms is to close following the owners’ decision to retire.
The Michaelides family has owned and operated The Assembly Rooms since 1974, when it saved the then-derelict building from closure. Since that time, the family firm has operated one of Newcastle’s most successful event venues, holding thousands of weddings, parties and conferences.
Antony Michaelides took over running the venue from his father Homer, and the family has made huge investment to continually modernise The Assembly Rooms to ensure it remained competitive in the city’s crowded leisure economy, most recently spending £1.1m to revamp the building’s bar, restaurant and late lounge BonBar and six event suites.
However, economic pressures, combined with the ill health of Homer Michaelides, have led the family to make the tough decision to retire from the business and close The Assembly Rooms.
The building was recently marketed by Colliers International, with a guide price of £4.2m, and has been sold to new owners. However, it has not been sold as a going concern meaning the venue as it is currently operated will close in December, with the loss of around 30 jobs.
It is not known what the new owners have planned for the property, which marked its 240th anniversary in 2016.
The Michaelides family will continue to run the venue until mid-December and will honour all bookings until then, while those with bookings made after that time are being contacted.
Mr Michaelides said: “It is with great sadness I can confirm the closure of The Assembly Rooms. We have put everything into this venue for 45 years, we are a family business and are hugely proud to have made the contribution to the city and to this fantastic venue that we have.
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“Sadly, over the past five years, market conditions have become increasingly difficult - we are not one of the big boys with the backing of a huge leisure operator, this is run by us alone and we have faced growing challenges in doing so.
“Also, the recent ill health of my father, the founder of The Assembly Rooms, has meant that we as a family have realised we are no longer able to channel the entirety of our time into a business, and rather that we spend precious time together - we have not done enough of this over the past 45 years, and we have all realised that must change.
“I have committed to remaining open for the short-term future to service as many existing bookings as I can, with the support of my fantastic team who have supported me and my family so well over the years, but sadly that cannot continue into the long-term.
“We have given people with existing bookings as much notice as we can, and have explained our situation as a family-run business. This is a decision we have not taken lightly, as this is such a hugely personal thing for our family and our ties to this building are so strong, but retirement from The Assembly Rooms and the marketplace is something we feel we have to do.”