The future of the Durker Roods Hotel and the dozen of weddings booked there this summer have continued to confuse.
Concerns rose after people with upcoming weddings found they couldn’t contact anyone and that the Meltham venue had not reopened as allowed after the lockdown.
Following our story, a Big Day Wedding company employee emailed a number of customers claiming everything was fine and the hotel would open on June 16, a copy we saw.
But no one at Big Day Wedding, operating from the www.bigdaywedding.co.uk website, responded to confirm the future of Durker Roods.
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Many worried future brides and grooms have also confirmed their failure to contact the company or an employee of the hotel. YorkshireLive believes that all Durker Roods employees were laid off in the past year.
It is believed that more than two dozen weddings will be scheduled for the historic venue this summer.
Last night, Big Day Wedding updated its Instagram and Facebook accounts again, promising they are scheduled to reopen on June 16.
A message from Durker Roods Hotel concerned it has not reopened and weddings could be at risk
However, an Instagram message was also accidentally sent to affected customers containing an internal memo instructing a colleague to ditch all requests with allegations about problems with their website and emails. The employee was asked to email all affected customers to an employee who YorkshireLive knows has left the company.
According to a title search in the land registry, Durker Roods changed hands in 2019. The most recent listing states that the company is owned by Cheshire-based IOW Ventnor Limited, founded by Michael James McMahon in July 2019.
As previously reported, a sign on the door of the closed hotel indicates that the property of 50/50 Services Limited is Hospitality Management Services Ltd. was transferred.
Mr. McMahon is listed as a former director of 50/50 Services Limited and will step down in February of this year.
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Meanwhile, YorkshireLive has also discovered that a firm that was forcibly shut down by the courts for “misleading investors and embezzlement of funds” is linked to Big Day Wedding and Durker Roods.
In January of this year, Cheshire-based Merydion Corporation was shut down by authorities over a fraud that raised more than £ 3 million from investors to be used to renovate hotels.
Merydion has offered hotel rooms for investment including Durker Roods, the Star Hotel in Great Yarmouth, the Northop Hall Hotel and the Belgrave Hotel in Chester.
The public was asked to invest £ 44,950 in the purchase of a 149-year lease for a hotel room. The company said the money raised would be used to renovate the hotels, and investors were told that the closed venues would be rebranded and reopened.
You never did.
An investigation by the bankruptcy service found that Merydion’s directors had kept most of the money to themselves.
YorkshireLive is known to have at least one local investor at Durker Roods involved in a similar program. Land registry records show that more than 20 of the Durker Roods hotel rooms are rented to private owners
We also found that Big Day Wedding wedding clients at the Northop Hall Hotel in Wales are experiencing the same issues as Durker Roods.
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Meanwhile, a company called Teva Resorts Limited appears to be still selling investments in Durker Roods for £ 6,999 a room and two of the same hotels as Merydion.
The company shares its business address with Merydion Corporation in Knutsford, Cheshire.
Big Day Wedding does not have an official address on its website and does not appear in Companies House. The phone number is only one digit different from that of Teva Resorts Limited.
Teva Resorts director – Michael James McMahon, 54 – is the same person who was the director of Merydion Corporation Ltd when it was dissolved by the courts, a bankruptcy spokesman confirmed. The spokesman said no action was taken against Mr. McMahon personally.
A woman who answered the phone for Teva Resorts had never heard of Durker Roods Hotel but said someone would respond to our request. There was never an answer.
Land registry records show that more than 20 of the Durker Roods hotel rooms are rented to private owners.
Durker Roods Hotel, Meltham, which is closed.
(Image: Huddersfield Examiner)
During the proceedings in the London High Court relating to Merydion Corporation Ltd, Edwin Johnson QC heard that Rationale Asset Management and Value Asset Management were acting as a real estate investment firm based in London and were brought to the attention of the bankruptcy service after concerns were raised about their business practices.
According to the bankruptcy service, their investigation found that Rationale Asset Management alleged to potential customers that they had bought and developed businesses such as nursing homes, hotels and pubs in order to resell them for a profit.
Investigators found that Rationale Asset Management had received more than £ 2 million from investors, but only a fraction of that money was being used on real estate investing activities. Instead, most of the money was used to pay the directors of Rationale Asset Management and other companies in which the directors had a controlling interest.
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Rationale Asset Management also received £ 1 million in funding from a pension scheme called Optimum Retirement Benefits Plan, which had previously been investigated by both the Bankruptcy Service and the Pension Commission after alleging the pension scheme was engaging in pension exemption activities connected.
The second real estate company, Value Asset Management, was closely associated with Rationale Asset Management and was investigated in parallel by the bankruptcy service. Research found the company sold bonds to investors that Value Asset Management claimed were backed by real estate assets.
Value Asset Management also sold stocks with the promise that the capital raised would be used to invest in new real estate.
However, investigators found that Value Asset Management’s marketing materials were misleading, and the company’s accounts showed that Value Asset Management was insolvent and had no property. Value Asset Management also received £ 200,000 from Rationale Asset Management which did not benefit Rationale Asset Management’s investors.
According to the court, Merydion Corporation Limited was closely associated with Rationale Asset Management.
Investigations by the Bankruptcy Service revealed that the £ 300,000 investment received by the Company came from the same pension fund from which Rationale Asset Management had received funding. The funds were then used by Merydion Corporation to invest in hotel properties that the company’s director owns under separate companies.
David Hill, Chief Investigator of the Bankruptcy Service said: “These companies have completely misled their investors and taken millions of pounds without making any real investments. There is no evidence that Value Asset Management ever started real estate development projects for all reasons The Investors of Asset management were left with worthless stocks.
“The courts have recognized the gravity of their misconduct and these companies have been dissolved, halting this persistent pattern of harmful business practices. We also encourage anyone considering investing in this type of investment to seek advice from an independent financial advisor. “”