Liquidators have been appointed for the company that ran the hotel and wedding venue business at the stately Kitley House country manor on the fringe of Plymouth.
Steve Henson, of Exeter-based Castle Hill Insolvency Ltd, will now wind up Great Dean Ltd, which traded as the award-winning Kitley House Hotel.
The hotel company to say that the “difficult decision” had been made to cease trading.
READ MORE: {}
Now The Gazette official public record has reported that a resolution to wind-up the business voluntarily was passed on November 9, 2020, and Mr Henson had been appointed as liquidator.
And documents filed at Companies House on October 29 now also reveal that the business had been struggling for some time prior to its eventual demise.
Great Dean’s financial statements for the year ended October 31, 2019, revealed a deficit on its balance sheet of £512,874. This had grown from a £117,401 deficit at the end of October 2018, Great Dean’s first year of trading.
The financial statement contains a note saying that due to “significant uncertainty” regarding the company’s ability to continue trading the document was not prepared on a going concern basis.
It also said: “Whilst these accounts are not directly impacted by the global Covid-19 pandemic, trading circumstances experienced post year end have led to significant uncertainties regarding the ability of the company to continue as a going concern.”
Most Read
In a statement to clients and customers, Great Dean said it was with “great sadness” that the company would cease trading and this had happened “despite every effort to streamline and rebrand the business” during the summer of 2020 in response to the “devastating impact of Covid-19 on the hospitality and wedding sectors”.
Want more Plymouth business news straight to your inbox?
BusinessLive South West is home for all your Plymouth business news as well as relevant stories from across the wider region.
You can sign up to receive daily morning business bulletins and we'll send out breaking news alerts for any stories we think you can't miss.
Visit our email preference centre to sign up to all the latest news from BusinessLive.
In 2019, the , most notably a Devon Tourism Awards’ Gold for Best Wedding Venue and a Silver for Best Events Venue.
But, along with other such venues, it had to close in March 2020 when Prime Minister Boris Johnson ordered a national lockdown. Bookings were postponed and employees placed on furlough. More than 20 staff have now lost their jobs. The hotel business had employed 40 people as recently as 2018.
Great Dean operated out of the 500-year-old, Grade I listed manor house, on Kitley Estate, at Yealmpton, just on the edge of Plymouth in the South Hams.
The hotel underwent a huge and expensive refit and in 2018 was awarded an AA Rosette in recognition of the high standard of its food.
The Bastard family has owned the estate since the time of William the Conqueror and are still based there, converting their family home into a hotel and restaurant in 1996.
Don’t miss
How to contact William Telford and Business Live
Business Live's South West Business Reporter is William Telford. William has more than a decade's experience reporting on the business scene in Plymouth and the South West. He is based in Plymouth but covers the entire region.
To contact William: Email: william.telford@reachplc.com - Phone: 01752 293116 - Mob: 07584 594052 - Twitter: - LinkedIn: - Facebook:
Stay in touch: BusinessLive newsletters have been re-designed to make them even better. We send morning bulletins straight to your inbox on the latest news, views and opinion in the South West. Get our breaking news alerts and weekly sector reviews too. Sign up now - it's free and it only takes a minute. To sign up for Business Live's daily newsletters click .
And visit the Business Live South West LinkedIn page
In 2018 the Bastard family, who had retained the historic building, re-took control of the hotel and restaurant from Stan Cooney, the Ireland-based sole director of Yealmpton Hospitality Ltd, which traded as Kitley House Hotel and Restaurant.
The family had initially sold off the business to the former general manager of Plymouth's Moat House, Andrew Huckerby, for a six-figure sum in 1999.
His firm Peninsular Hospitality Hotels Ltd went into administration in 2012 and then into liquidation, blaming a downturn in the West Country leisure and tourism industry. The business was bought out of administration by Yealmpton Hospitality Ltd in 2012.
When the Bastard family regained control they swiftly developed a comprehensive refurbishment plan at the privately-run estate.
The country manor house nestles in 600 acres of unspoilt pasture and woodland on the banks of the River Yealm. The building has early Tudor origins and is thought to have been constructed during the reign of Henry VII between 1457 and 1509.
Over the centuries, the building has been enriched with Regency elegance and Jacobean gentility. The hotel overlooks a trout lake and hosts a number of walks, many of which lead down to the Yealm estuary.