The firm that ran The Shankly Hotel in Liverpool has been ordered into liquidation, it was revealed.
HMRC brought a successful winding up petition against The Shankly Hotel Liverpool Ops Limited as a creditor of the company.
The firm operated the hotel, which entered administration in April 2020 but remains open for business. It is part of the Signature Living family of hotels and hospitality businesses.
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The firm that holds the leasehold interest of the Victoria Street building, Signature Shankly Limited, is still in administration. Consulting firm Kroll, which is handling the administration, confirmed that Signature Shankly Limited has taken over the day-to-day running of the hotel, which remains open.
In a recently-filed document with Companies House, it has been confirmed that The Shankly Hotel Liverpool Ops Limited was the subject of a winding up petition in February this year, brought by HMRC.
That led to a ruling on August 17 that the business was to be wound up under the provisions of the Insolvency Act 1986. The ruling also ordered that HMRC's costs should be paid out of the assets of The Shankly Hotel Liverpool Ops Limited.
Asked for comment on the petition in this case, an HMRC spokesperson said: "We take a supportive approach to dealing with customers who have tax debts and only file winding-up petitions once we’ve exhausted all other options, in order to protect taxpayers’ money."
According to an administrator's progress report for Signature Shankly Limited, which was published in May, The Shankly Hotel Liverpool Ops Limited continued to trade the hotel while steps were taken to put it up for sale. Kroll said there had been a "number of interested parties that were in an advanced phase of the bidding process".
However, after a period of exclusivity was entered into with one interested party the potential buyer withdrew their interest. Kroll added that the hotel "will be brought back to market as soon as possible".
A Kroll spokesperson said: "Following the liquidation of The Shankly Hotel Liverpool Ops Limited, the joint administrators of Signature Shankly Limited, the entity that owns the leasehold interests in the hotel, has taken over the day-to-day operations at the Shankly Hotel. All upcoming bookings and events will be honoured and all employees that remain in the business, will be offered new contracts of employment.
"The joint administrators continue to pursue a sale of the business and assets of the Shankly Hotel as a going concern." Signature Living has been contacted by BusinessLive for comment.
The Shankly Hotel opened its doors in August 2015 following a £20m project. The hotel, which has more than 80 bedrooms, also contains a Shankly museum with personal items belonging to Bill Shankly and a 150-cover restaurant called The Bastion.
The second phase of the hotel opened in the following year and featured a rooftop bar and restaurant, infinity swimming pool, conference facilities and 100ft slide.
The news comes after a pair of businesses behind two other Signature Living hotels entered administration last month.
Rainhill Hall is a grade II-listed country house that was completed in 1824. It was a retreat house run by the Society of Jesus and known as Loyola Hall for almost 90 years to 2014 and has operated as a hotel and wedding venue since 2017.
According to new filings with The Gazette, advisory firm Kroll has been appointed as administrator for Loyola Hall Limited as well as Signature Living Lifestyles Limited and Signature Eden Limited.
It was revealed in August that Signature Living Preston Limited, the company that runs The Shankly Hotel in Preston, had also entered administration.
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