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Birmingham Post
Birmingham Post
Business
Jon Robinson

New owner for Hotel Gotham as focus turns to UK expansion

The company behind one of Manchester's most iconic hotels has changed hands.

The controlling shares in the business that runs Hotel Gotham have been taken on by property company Marshall CDP.

Previous owner Bespoke Hotels will remain operating the venue as well as being the franchisor for Hotel Gotham Manchester and Gotham Collection.

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A spokesman for Hotel Gotham said: "Such arrangement provides for continuity in Hotel Gotham operations, and allows both Bespoke Hotels Ltd and Marshall CDP Ltd an opportunity to jointly focus on the future developments of Gotham Collection, with one such project already in motion, Hotel Gotham Bristol due to open late 2024."

In January, BusinessLive reported how the finances of Hotel Gotham had surged back to pre-pandemic levels during its latest financial year.

The hotel posted a turnover of £5.1m for the 12 months to March 31, 2022, compared to £1.3m in the prior year.

A suite at Hotel Gotham in Manchester (Manchester Evening News)

It also made a pre-tax profit of £881,168, recovering from a loss of £453,260.

The figures compare to a turnover of £5m and profit of £164,741 in 2019, the last full year not impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The King Street hotel, which was opened in 2015, was designed by Edwin Lutyens in 1928 and fully opened as a bank in 1935.

The Midland Bank was renamed HSBC in 1999, and the building remained a bank until 2008 when it was sold to new owners, with the large ground floor banking hall initially opened as Jamie's Italian restaurant.

The outside of Hotel Gotham featured in the sixth series of Peaky Blinders on the BBC as the Midland Hotel.

It has been a hotspot for celebrity visitors and parties since it first opened as a hotel in 2015, with guests including Simon Cowell, Jennifer Hudson, Will.i.am and Robbie Williams.

The hotel includes 60 bedrooms over seven floors and features exclusive private members bar Club Brass on the top floor as well as three outdoor terraces.

The Grade II-listed building itself is also owned by Yorkshire-based Marshall CDP.

The company's projects in the North West include The Lincoln in Manchester, Union Square in Trafford Park, and Hotel Brooklyn in the city centre.

Warrington-based Bespoke Hotels also counts Mill Hotel and Spa, Chester, Oddfellows Chester, Oddfellows on the Park, Cheadle, Liberty's Hotel, Blackpool, Ennerdale Country House Hotel, Cumbria, and Tune Liverpool among its North West portfolio.

It represents over 120 properties across the world and was founded in 2000 by Haydn Fentum and Robin Sheppard.

(Hotel Gotham)

According to its website, the group manages over 5,000 hotel rooms, and employs 6,000 members of staff and looks after £525m of assets.

Companies House shows that this month Commercial Development Projects Limited, a Marshall Group company, took "significant control" of Hotel Gotham Limited. Also this month, Mr Sheppard and Mr Fentum ceased to be directors of that company, while its registered address switched from Warrington to Marshall House in Elland, West Yorkshire.

A statement signed off by the board of Hotel Gotham Limited regarding its latest accounts said: "The business has been severely impacted by the Coronavirus pandemic and was forced to close due to Government restrictions.

"The business started to trade again during May 2021 and was back up to occupancy levels of above 70% within a month.

"The reduced rate of VAT positively impacted the revenues throughout the year to March 2022.

"Whilst comparisons to previous years are skewed by the impact of enforced closures and the reduced rate of VAT, the underlying business is now trading strongly."

At the time the hotel warned that its energy prices had been fixed until the end of September 2022 and that a "significant increase" was expected after the contract ended.

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