THE plaudit plot thickens for the Guy Fawkes Inn in High Petergate, York.

The pub was bought out of administration only last August, yet now the AA has awarded it a four-star gold status as well as highly commending it.

The award comes at the same time that the Lamb & Lion, in High Petergate, gets a four-star status, having also been rescued from the administrators last summer.

HRH Ltd bought the two properties, plus Marmadukes boutique hotel, in St Peter’s Grove, just off Bootham, when previous owner The De Bretton group, run by David Hattersley, went bust.

Shane Disney, HRH’s area manager, who only last month celebrated a new four-star status for the 20-bedroom Marmadukes, said: “I am now genuinely delighted three times over. You wouldn’t believe how much work has gone into restoring and improving the three properties and now it has proved all worthwhile, but it is not over.

“The Lamb & Lion has an amazing beer garden, with Minster views, and the Guy Fawkes Inn has a wonderfully intimate court at the back where Guy Fawkes is said to have been born. We intend to bombard them with flowers for this summer.”

The AA awards come with a flourish – an AA rosette for the Lamb & Lion’s evening menu. Shane said: “That meant that our new superb, hard-working chef there, Phil Watson, is over the moon.

“I am also applying for an AA Rosette for the Guy Fawkes Inn and we are working hard on its new menu.”