Inn Focus, of Harrogate, buys York hotels, Guy Fawkes Inn and Marmadukes (From York Press)

Inn Focus, of Harrogate, buys York hotels, Guy Fawkes Inn and Marmadukes

9:15am Thursday 2nd September 2010 in

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A North Yorkshire leisure property firm has expanded its empire by acquiring two of York’s well-known hotels – and in so doing has saved about 35 jobs.

Inn Focus, of Harrogate, has added the Guy Fawkes Inn and Marmadukes to its large portfolio of hotels, pubs and restaurants in Yorkshire.

Philip Barker, who heads Inn Focus, is believed to have spent about £2 million in total by acquiring the two establishments from administrators Baker Tilly.

The 13-bedroom Guy Fawkes Inn, opposite York Minster, allegedly once the home of history’s famous treason plotter, and 20 bedroom Marmadukes boutique hotel in St Peter’s Grove, just off Bootham, were part of the ill-fated De Bretton Group, run by York businessman David Hattersley.

The hotels, which traded under the De Bretton Hospitality banner, went into administration in May last year after the Nationwide Building Society took control. De Bretton was the second wing of Mr Hattersley’s portfolio to collapse in the recession, with his building business, David Hattersley Ltd, ceasing trading in 2008 with debts of £120,000.

In a secret bidding auction organised by Colliers, the property agency, Inn Focus beat a number of interested bidders to clinch the deal, which is thought to have been close to the guide prices of £1.25 million for Marmadukes and £1.1 million for the Guy Fawkes.

Its intervention secured about 35 jobs. Inn Focus’s interests include The Black Bull at Moulton, near Richmond and the Black Horse pub restaurant at Kirkby Fleetham, near Northallerton.