People who booked weddings, parties and other events at 30 James Street Hotel are celebrating after the new operators vowed to honour all monies paid before it went into administration over the summer.

Hundreds of thousands of pounds had been paid to the hotel’s former owner, Signature Living, leaving more than 200 events in the balance.

But now new operator Legacy Hotels & Resorts has worked out a deal with Moorfields, the administrators, to ensure that 127 weddings and 95 spa days, as well as more than 660-bedroom reservations have not been lost.

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.

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 3 April having chosen the venue because it was on the Liverpool street where 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 says: “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 heartbreaking.”

Jess and Lee

Lee adds: “During those first few weeks of uncertainty it was just radio silence, absolutely no contact at all and we only found out what had happened to Signature Living from Jess’s sister who had seen it in the news.

“I genuinely thought we had lost all of our money and if we had, it would have been years before we could have saved up enough again with buying a house the next priority.

“Since Legacy have been involved we have had a lot more reassurance. We know that there is no obligation for them to honour a previous contract and for them to do so is unbelievable. When we heard we were so happy, it’s been the first bit of good news we have had for ages and we cracked a drink.

“A massive weight has been lifted from our shoulders and we are now really looking forward to the rearranged date in February next year.”

It’s a similar story for Lucy McNally, 29, a language tutor and Phil McClennan, 38, a finance officer from Waterloo. They had saved hard since becoming engaged in March 2018 and had paid around £9k in full for their wedding on 27 March 2020.

Phil and Lucy

Lucy says: “With around two weeks to go we actually postponed the wedding because we could see where everything was going with the Coronavirus situation, but we still couldn’t have guessed that the hotel would close down.

“When we found out about the administration, I was that worried that I couldn’t even bear to think about it. We tried to contact them by phone and email and we even went to the hotel, but there was a chain on the gate. It was so worrying.”

Phil adds: “It was unthinkable that we could lose our money, but we tried to have some perspective because of the pandemic, although it was awful not having any control or any way of finding out what was happening.

“When Legacy came in, we started receiving updates that reassured us, even though we completely understood that they didn’t have to honour our contract with the previous owners. So, we are really grateful. It’s been handled very professionally, and we are very impressed with Legacy. They have given us a deep sense of relief.”

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