A BRIDE-TO-BE has been left almost £1,000 out of pocket and her plans for a hen party weekend in York have been ruined, following the sudden closure of the city’s Lamb & Lion hotel. Gemma Cox, who booked the entire hotel for herself and 17 of her friends to stay there on April 17, told how she discovered the hotel in High Petergate had recently shut down. “I felt sick to the bottom of my stomach and burst into tears, as my friends had trusted me to sort out the hotel,” said Gemma, 27, from Bolton, Greater Manchester, who is getting married on July 3. “I felt sick at the fact I was going to have to phone all 17 of my friends to tell them our money had been lost.” Gemma said she had paid £921 by debit card on February 16, and received a receipt three days later and an email confirming she had secured all the hotel’s rooms. The whole party then booked train tickets to York for £24.30 each, to be used only at specific times. Then, last week, she went on the internet to show one of her friends the hotel, only to see a notice on the hotel’s home page stating that it had closed down. “After reading the notice I thought it was a mistake and tried the web page again. I then realised that it was true. I tried to contact the Lamb & Lion on the telephone number on their website and there was no reply.” Gemma also tried to send an email, but it bounced back. “We have lost £921, not including our train fares, and we are now left with nowhere to stay.”

‘Issues with bank forced closure’ of Lamb & Lion in York

A SPOKESMAN for former Lamb & Lion owners Chris and Emma Watkins said the hotel had been forced to closed its doors because of well-publicised issues with the Royal Bank of Scotland.

He said the bank had not appointed administrators as it had intended, which he claimed would have helped customers recover money, but had opted to sell the building through receivers.

“This leaves the directors in a position that they have to cease trading and dissolve the business, as it has no assets for distribution to the creditors as the bank have placed themselves right at the top of the pile,” he said.

“In any situation where a business fails it is regrettable that anyone loses money but Chris and Emma did everything they could to make sure this did not happen.” He said Mr Watkins had called upon RBS to “do the right thing” and pay all outstanding creditors, as he would have done had the bank allowed the business to continue. Mr and Mrs Watkins had not only lost their livelihood, but also incurred £10,000 in legal fees.

But an RBS spokeswoman said that after working to support the business for the last three years, it regretted the business found itself in this situation.

“The hotel had closed before the bank took action to minimise significant losses by appointing a Law of Property Act receiver,” she said.