Hartlepool couple fear their wedding plans are in tatters after Grand Hotel goes into administration

Simon Piercy, 38, and Craig Ellett, 24, were due to marry at the Grand Hotel in Hartlepool and had paid the £500 deposit for their big day.

But as the Hartlepool Mail reported at last weekend, the hotel has gone into administration.

Simon and Craig’s wedding was scheduled at the hotel on May 29 next year. It’s an important date for them because it is the birthday of Simon's dad John, 62, who is in stage 5 dementia, which is the final stage.

Simon said: “We are left in a position of not knowing when we can have our wedding, can we afford it and will my dad be there for it.

“The longer we wait, the more difficult it will be to know how long we have got.”

Simon also reacted to the news that the administrators in the case were exploring all options, including possibly securing the re-employment of staff and honour ongoing bookings.

He said: “It would be good if they found someone to buy the hotel but we are in a Catch-22 situation.

“There is no guarantee that someone is going to come through.

“It is a balancing act. Do we wait to find out or do we look somewhere else. And if a buyer does come through, will they honour the bookings?”

Simon and Craig, who were engaged in February, say they are also angry that they had to find out the news about the hotel’s administration on Facebook.

Craig said: "We were very upset to find out that not only was our wedding venue not going to be possible, that the £500 deposit we paid is in hiatus.”

He said the wedding was going to be held entirely at the Grand Hotel with plans for up to 26 guests on the daytime and up to 200 on the night.

Craig added: “We found out not from the hotel, but from a Facebook post that the Grand Hotel had gone into administration."

Simon has appeared in the Hartlepool Mail before when we told how, in December 2016, he gave up his job as a Buckingham Palace historian to become a full-time carer for his father.

His dad John has frontal lobe dementia, COPD and emphysema. His condition has worsened this year and he now has problems with swallowing.

Simon, who is the Vice Chairman of Hartlepool Carers, added: “The longer we wait, the less likelihood there is that he can attend the wedding. He might be too ill or he may have passed.”

A post on The Grand Hotel’s official Facebook page confirmed the news of the administration on Saturday June 7.

Official records also indicate that hotel owner Shepherd Cox Hotels (Hartlepool) has been placed into administration.

But in a statement from the administrators, a glimmer of hope for the future of the Grand has emerged.

One of the administrators, Simon Bonney from business advisory firm Quantuma, said: “We are exploring options in relation to the sale of hotels in order to try and secure the re-employment of staff and honour ongoing bookings.”

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