Landmark Samlesbury hotel under new ownership

The Macdonald Tickled Trout at Samlesbury, near Preston, was one of 27 hotels put on the market by its parent company Macdonald Hotels.

The price being paid by a private equity firm is not being revealed.

It is expected that trade and staffing will be unaffected.

Founder Donald Macdonald said: “The board carefully weighed up all the proposals and unanimously agreed that selling the majority of the hotels to a new, well-funded investor will enable them to realise their full potential, both as hotels and in terms of the significant development potential on several of the sites.

“This is excellent news for the 2,200 loyal employees based at these hotels, their 190 colleagues in our central support team and also for our valued customers and suppliers.”

Macdonald Hotels said its bank debt would be below £190m next month.

Its North West hotels include Macdonald New Blossoms, Chester; Macdonald Portal Hotel, Tarporley; Macdonald Craxton Wood, Chester; Macdonald Manchester Hotel, Manchester; Macdonald Leeming House Hotel, Windermere; and Macdonald Kilhey Court Hotel, Wigan.

The four-star Kilhey Court was built by brewer Thomas Fairhurst in 1884 as an ultimate wedding present for his wife Elizabeth and it remained a home for a century before becoming a hotel in 1983.

The Macdonald Hotels group was in the red by more than £700m a decade ago.

And while this has radically come down since, it has been feeling the squeeze since the onset of the recession in 2008.

Macdonald recently posted pre-tax losses of £1.1m.

The sell-off leaves the company with only 11 hotels in its portfolio both home and abroad.