UK: The hotel is due to close indefinitely on 25 October 2020 as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, following its acquisition by The Apartment Group (TAG) in September.
TAG planned to invest millions of pounds at Whitworth Hall Hotel and across another site, Jersey Farm Country Hotel, to create two boutique hotels.
Chief operating officer at TAG, Debrah Dhugga, has since confirmed that Whitworth Hall will be closing, with many tours and weddings cancelled. 30 staff will also be losing their jobs.
She said: “Covid hit us, we thought by the end of August or September we would be coming out of it so we kept running the hotel. But it is just not viable to keep open. With the Covid restrictions and not knowing when it is going to end, we got to the stage where we had to close. We do hope to reopen and continue to work with architects and designers on the refurbishment plans, but when that is – six months or a year – I sadly cannot say.”
Speaking about the redundancies, Dhugga added: “I am heartbroken, I know this is people’s lives being affected and they are all lovely people. This is not because of something they have done, the hospitality industry is simply in crisis. We have told them all to reapply for jobs when we are able to reopen.”
TAG hopes to fully reopen Whitworth Hall Hotel so it can honour all 2021 bookings.
Around 350 people at TAG have been made redundant as a result of the pandemic.
