An excited groom-to-be had the date of his “big day” tattooed on his hand after locking in his dream wedding venue, only to have it suddenly shut its doors.
Michael Crane, 37, and his fiance Linda Brown, 42, were among dozens of couples left in the lurch when Best Western Park Hall Hotel in Lancashire unexpectedly shut on Monday.
According to the Lancashire Post, some couples turned up at the hotel to confront management and demanded refunds after learning of the closure, prompting staff to call the police.
Michael, who paid £180 to have the date and time of his wedding tattooed on his left hand before Christmas, said he was shocked and angry when he found out.
He said: “Never in a million years did we think they would shut down,” he said.
"It's a beautiful room, they have an old mediaeval hall and when it's done up it looks smashing. The room sealed it for us.
"But since we booked it, the hotel has shut down twice. It's been a nightmare since the beginning.
"They blamed the lockdown but the government guidelines didn't say they had to shut at the time.
"You don't expect that from a hotel attached to a name like Best Western."
The couple, who have been together four years, forked out £4,000 upfront for the wedding, which was due to be held on August 5.
Michael, from Warrington, Cheshire, said he has family coming from America who had booked to stay at the hotel too.
He now fears they won't get any of that back.
To make matters worse, he had the time and date of their wedding inked on his left hand before Christmas, having been so excited about the occasion.
"I've got a lot of tattoos, but since getting my Covid jab they don't heal very well so I wanted it to heal in time for the wedding," he explained.
The couple has been able to rearrange their wedding for the next day at a different location, so he will get the 5 on his tattoo adjusted to 6, but the time will be wrong.
Michael, who booked the venue in October, said the couple had found out about the closure on the weekend, after spotting a Google review from someone who mentioned the news.
“We weren't even told,” he said.
Frantic couples confronted staff at the hotel on Sunday when news spread on social media of the imminent closure.
Adam Weate, 32, and Danielle Sugden, 29, had also been due to tie the knot at Park Hall on May 7.
The groom-to-be dashed to Park Hall on Sunday night to be told that if he returned at 11am the next day there would be someone on hand to offer explanations and a refund.
But when they arrived at the allotted hour they say they were faced with a scene of chaos and they weren't able to speak to anyone in authority.
They were given just £1,000, despite having paid £2,500, Adam claimed.
Former Wigan Athletic chairman Bill Kenyon, who owns nearby Holland Hall, has offered both couples the use of his venue for the same price they paid Park Hall.
Adam said it had been a “rollercoaster”, with the wedding having already been cancelled twice.
“It was due to Covid, there was nothing they could do about that, but they didn't handle it with any sort of empathy,” he said.
"Then on Sunday night, we saw on social media that the place was going to close.
"I dashed there late at night and they told me to come back 12 hours later and all would be sorted - but it wasn't.
"We got £1,000 of the promised refund but no explanations, including the rest of the money and all the guests who were booked in."
Mr Kenyon said: "There can't be many things worse than seeing lots of finely-tuned wedding plans going wrong.
"We hope we can at least help some of the couples affected."
Jenni Halliday, Serco's contract director for asylum accommodation services, said: "With the significant increases in the number of people arriving in the UK we have been faced with no alternative but to temporarily accommodate some asylum seekers in hotels.
"These hotels are only used as a last resort but as a provider of accommodation services on behalf of the Home Office we have a responsibility to find accommodation for the asylum seekers that are being placed in our care.
"The Serco team is working extremely hard to move people into dispersed social housing as rapidly as possible."
The Mirror has approached the Best Western for comment.
