When Liverpool’s 30 James Street Hotel collapsed into administration, 127 couples who had booked weddings faced losing their money – but the new operator has come to the rescue. Tony McDonough reports
Couples who paid for weddings at Liverpool’s 30 James Street Hotel will have their bookings honoured, the new operator has promised
30 James Street was originally opened by Signature Living but it set up to run the hotel collapsed into administration on June 25. But no deposit money previously paid to the hotel had been passed to the administrators, Moorfields.
This meant that people who had booked 127 weddings, 95 spa days and more than 660 bedroom reservations faced losing their cash. However, new operator Legacy Hotels & Resorts is to honour the bookings, even though it has no obligation to do so.
A letter to the hundreds of people who paid deposits or in full for their event has been sent out this week telling them of the good news.
The letter’s signatory Calum Colquhoun, regional operations manager, for Legacy Hotels, wrote: “I am pleased to inform you that the new business will be honouring in full the value of any deposit paid to 30 James Street Limited on or before April 15, 2020.
“It has been a substantial task to address this financial issue, at the same time as planning for the re-opening of the hotel. I would like to thank you for your patience and understanding at what must have been a difficult and unsettling time.”
For Jess Wallace, 29, a business administrator and Lee Stanley, 31, a civil engineer of Childwall, the news comes as a huge relief. The couple had planned to be married at 30 James Street on April 3 having chosen the venue because it was on the Liverpool street on which they met for their first date in 2016.
They became engaged in 2018 and had saved and paid £9,500 for their big day. Jess said: “When I heard the news that we hadn’t lost the money, that our wedding will go ahead, I was so happy and relieved, I just burst into tears.
“We were so close to being married originally that I was about to go for my final wedding dress fitting. Then lockdown happened which was bad enough and we knew we would have to move the date.
“But then we were left in limbo having to spend the last few months not knowing whether we had lost the money and I felt so low and upset. Organising a wedding can be stressful enough, but to have this on top of everything else, it was heart breaking.”
Vicki Hanlon, general manager of the Grade II-listed four-star venue, added: “It’s amazing news and it has constantly been in the back of our minds whether this would be possible. The thought of telling anyone, especially a bride and groom, that their money which they had saved for their wedding was gone was unbearable.
“These will now be happy days and it feels like we can finally move on because how can you carry on planning, when there are people sat at home worrying about what’s going on. Now we can get back to where we should be, helping to organise the most important day of their lives.”