Moorfields assists Durker Roods Hotel

A PICTURESQUE hotel is set for a new lease of life under new ownership.

The Durker Roods Hotel at Meltham has been bought by Honley entrepreneurs Pauline and Richard Hough.

Now they have set about revitalising the property – once owned by industrialist David Brown – in a bid to restore the hotel to its former glory.

The hotel, which was in the hands of administrators for many months, was sold to the husband and wife team for close to the £700,000 asking price.

The sale was conducted by property agency Colliers International on behalf of insolvency firm Moorfields Corporate Recovery.

Fiona Hough, daughter of the new owners, said work to refurbish the bedrooms, corridors and communal areas was already under way.

It was also planned to revamp the hotel restaurant and – in the longer term – make more of a feature of the building’s links to the tycoon who built up David Brown Gears, David Brown Tractors and at one stage owned Aston Martin.

She said: “There is a David Brown Tractor Museum nearby and the hotel could be appealing to tractor enthusiasts.

“We want to make the most of the function rooms and increase the number of weddings.

“The grounds are beautiful and the house is splendid. We want to make it into a busy, bustling hotel as part of what is a busy, bustling village.”

A spokeswoman for Colliers said there had been keen interest in the property. She said: “It is a well-established hotel and a pretty building, which attracted very strong competitive bidding.”

Durker Roods has 30 bedrooms, a lounge bar, a restaurant and function rooms, extensive lawns and formal gardens and car parking.

For many years, it has been a popular venue for weddings and has also hosted corporate functions and conferences.

The hotel, which was built in 1870 as a private residence and was converted into a hotel in 1975, has had a chequered history in recent years.

In 1999, it was bought by Kings Inn before the company added to its interests by acquiring the 16-bedroom Tower House Hotel in Halifax.

That company went into administration in February, 2008, after which the hotel operated under licence from the administrators.

The hotel was put on the market in August last year on behalf of administrators at RSM Bentley Jennison & Co. Since then, the insolvency firm has changed its name to Moorfields.

A spokesman for Moorfields said resolving the administration and sale had been “a long haul” due to the effects of the recession on the pubs, restaurants and hotels sector.

Moorfields Corporate Recovery LLP is one of the UK's leading independent firms of restructuring and insolvency specialists.

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