Plymouth’s historic Duke of Cornwall Hotel has closed with all staff made redundant after the repeated coronavirus lockdowns made it financially unviable.
A spokesman for the hotel said it had faced mounting costs due to the pandemic and continued overheads and reached the point of no return despite every effort being made to continue trading.
In fact, Cheshire-based Bespoke Hotels, which has operated the Duke for the past two years, was even planning to reopen the hotel on February 19, if the current lockdown was lifted by then.
But now the decision has been made to shutter the hotel for good and 52 staff have lost their jobs, and will have to claim redundancy payments from the taxpayer.
It is understood they were told by a Zoom call and asked to remove any personal items from the hotel. It is understood they were understandably upset at hearing the news.
A spokesperson for the hotel said: “It’s with tremendous sadness that we can confirm the closure of the Duke of Cornwall hotel. Industries across the country have been heavily impacted by the coronavirus crisis, and the hospitality sector has been amongst the hardest hit.
“With repeated enforced closures due to lockdown measures, combined with reduced revenues and additional costs caused by social distancing requirements, all of which has been underpinned by unavoidable, ongoing overheads, we’re in a position where it’s sadly no longer financially viable to continue.
“We’ve explored every avenue in a bid to stave off having to close permanently, but given the enormous financial strain of the pandemic we’re at the point where this is simply no longer possible and we’ve had to cease trading.
“We’d like to express our immense gratitude and sincerest sympathies to the staff at the Duke of Cornwall, who have been enormously understanding during recent months. It is our hope that they will be able to take advantage of the Government Insolvency Service.”
The closure of one of Plymouth’s most prominent businesses raises the question of what happens to the Grade II listed, 158-year-old building, in Millbay Road.
The pile was sold to Singapore-based international property developer Fragrance Group in 2019, which leased it to the UK’s largest hotel operator Bespoke Hotels.
That firm set up a company called Bespoke Hotels (Plymouth) Ltd, whose most recent accounts show it had a deficit of £12,871 on its profit and loss account at the end of 2019.
The Victorian edifice had been owned by Jonathan Morcom and Walter Combstock for 18 years before it was sold in a multi-million pound deal in July 2019.
Fragrance Group, which had been working on the deal since early 2018, immediately leased the business to bespoke and luxury hotel specialist Bespoke Hotels, which owns or manages about 70 hotels in the UK including 18 the South West such as the Lugger in Truro, Hunters Inn in Barnstaple, Torbay Hotel in Torquay, St Ives Bary Hotel and Newquay’s Marina Hotel.
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Its managing director, Graham Marskell, said at the time it took on the Duke of Cornwall that there would be no immediate changes to the hotel and it would not be rebranded into a corporate entity.
He said the firm was attracted to the hotel as soon as it was put on the market, because Bespoke has no hotels in Plymouth and saw the city as having great potential.
Mr Morcom and Mr Combstock, well known faces in Plymouth’s business fraternity, were part of a team that took over the hotel in a management buy-out in 2001.
They decided an opportune moment to move on had arrived, partly, but not primarily, because Plymouth was being eyed by several hotel developers.
During Mr Morcom’s and Mr Combstock’s tenure, more than £1.5million was injected into the building, but it was thought Bespoke had the resources to “take it to the next level” with its buying power and marketing resources.
Amanda Lumley, executive director of Destination Plymouth, said: “We are very sad to hear of the closure of The Duke of Cornwall Hotel and our thoughts are with the staff and their families at this difficult time.
“The Duke of Cornwall has a unique place at the heart of our city’s history, she is a fine old lady and is dearly loved by many.
“In the short term we have been working with Plymouth City Council’s employment and economic development department to provide bespoke support to the hotel senior team and staff.
“The site is a listed building and we are hopeful that once the sector starts to recover another operator will reopen the business.”
