Owners of famous Harrogate hotel collapse into administration

The entrance to the The Country Living Hotel St George in Harrogate.

In total nearly 2,500 jobs have been lost and 64,000 bookings cancelled with the collapse into administration of Specialist Leisure Group as the lockdown continues to severely affect the travel industry and the hotel sector in general.

The St George Hotel on Ripon Road is part of Shearings' Country Living Hotel portfolio and is part of the list of those businesses which have ceased trading.

The magnificent Georgian property faces the Royal Hall on Ripon Road where part of the NHS Nightingale Hospital has been built to counter the coronavrius pandemic.

Parts of this Edwardian mansion have been refurbished and upgraded by The Specialist Leisure Group in recent years as part of a major rebranding exercise involving top magazine Country Living.

Shearings owner Specialist Leisure Group said in late April that it was in discussions with stakeholders, advisors and the government following reports that it was seeking a buyer to survive the coronavirus crisis.

The Specialist Leisure Group operated nine businessses selling holidays and other travel arrangements.

Harrogate Stray repairs - the issue of drainage riles a concerned reader

All the following have ceased to trade, due to the impact of COVID-19:

This is Shearings, National Holidays, ukbreakaways.com, BayHotels, Coast and Country Hotels, Country Living Hotels, Caledonian Travel, Wallace Arnold Travel, sportingbreaks.com

The trips will not be rescheduled, The Specialist Leisure Group said.

All hotels trading as Bay Hotels, Coast & Country Hotels and Country Living Hotels will not reopen.

All Wallace Arnold Travel shops are now permanently closed, it was also announced.

For more information, visit https://www.specialistleisuregroup.com

Dear Reader on the return of cars in Harrogate plus never go outside again!

A message from the Editor

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspaper.