A COUPLE who were set to get married at a luxury North Yorkshire hotel say they are devastated it’s not reopening.

Tiffany Crawford, 52, and her partner Glenn Hodgson, 49, have been together for six years and were meant to be having their wedding and reception at The Talbot Hotel in Malton on September 11.

It wasn’t until they read an article in The Press online saying the hotel was not reopening next week due to pressures on the tourism industry, that they found out that their big day was off.

Tiffany said: “We tried to contact them and we just kept getting told ‘we don’t know when we’re reopening’, at first, which is no good to anybody. They have since said that they will refund us the money, but finding a new venue at such short notice is not going to be easy.

“We’re just devastated because this is the second time this has happened to us. We were meant to be getting married at another venue, but they got new owners who decided they didn’t want to do weddings. That’s why, when we found The Talbot, we were so happy, and we’ve been speaking to them since lockdown began and they reassured us that everything was ok.”

Glenn, who works at Specsavers in Malton, and housewife Tiffany live in Scarborough, and they say they have paid the The Talbot £510, as well as £190 to another hotel in Malton where they had booked rooms, which will now have to be cancelled. This is on top of £450 paid to the register office.

Tom Naylor-Leyland, a director of the hotel company that runs The Talbot, said it had had to make the ‘difficult decision’ not to reopen and the future of the hotel would be kept under review.

Mr Naylor-Leyland said: “This is heart-breaking for our loyal members of staff and a very difficult decision for my family who have loved and enjoyed the hotel for so many years.”

A spokesman for the hotel said about Glenn and Tiffany’s wedding: “We have personally spoken to all wedding parties who made a booking at The Talbot Hotel and all deposits are being returned. The Talbot team has been overwhelmed by the kindness, support and understanding of everyone they have spoken to.”

Anyone who has a booking should contact their booking agent or the Talbot if the booking has been made directly: foh@talbotmalton.co.uk