Work has begun to bring back into life one of Tenby’s most iconic seafront hotels.
Tenby’s Grade II-listed seafront Fourcroft Hotel situated along The Croft overlooking the North Beach and Carmarthen Bay, has been closed since 2019, after it was one of several properties acquired by ‘entrepreneur’ Gavin Woodhouse that went into administration following a high court hearing.
Mr. Woodhouse purchased the property back in 2017 from the family that had owned the Georgian-era premises for over 70 years, but after an investigation uncovered suspected fraudulent business dealings by Mr. Woodhouse, who raised more than £80m to refurbish hotels and build care homes, he lost control of his Northern Powerhouse Developments company along with two other companies, after a high court judge ruled that his business model appeared to be “thoroughly dishonest”.
With joint administrators continuing to run the 40-bedroomed hotel up until the Covid lockdown in March 2020, staff were soon told that the premises would not be re-opening, and the property has remained closed and untouched ever since, until it was acquired by local purchasers from the liquidation process last month.
New owners Mark Chaichian and his wife Jenny (the daughter of Roger and Liz Howells who own the Park Hotel a little further up the road in Tenby) have now set out a programme of works to bring the much-loved hotel back into life .
“Both Jenny and I grew up in Tenby and I acquired the hotel last month from a liquidation process that was quite tortuous!” explained Mark.
“We had our offer accepted in November 2019, but it took nearly three years for the liquidator to complete the transaction with us. This was partially due to Covid and the fact the Fourcroft was part of a larger liquidation of a 30+ hotel package.
“Given the time from our offer acceptance, to now, we were beginning to think it would never happen!
“As you can imagine, the gardens, exterior and interior of the hotel have fallen into significant disrepair over the past three years, and our first goal was to tidy up the gardens and remove content from the hotel. Over the past four weeks we have donated most of the contents to various charities in Tenby and the surrounding area.
“Now we have started the clean-up of the gardens, we will look to have these fully landscaped by next summer, which should really improve the view from the beach.
“We are also removing other materials from the hotel that’s required prior to any renovation and thought it would be better to get this out of the way in the winter months, prior to the summer season,” he continued.
Mark admits that their full plans for the premises have yet to be finalised, with discussions currently ongoing with Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority officers.
“In relation to our plans for the building we are at a relatively early stage in our thinking; and all we can be certain on at this stage is we will be landscaping the gardens and bringing the outside of the building back to its former glory,” he continued.
“We have engaged with the National Parks to get their views and will look to form a plan and pre-planning application in the New Year.
“We will be investing a lot of equity in the project and see it as an important landmark in Tenby that needs considerable investment to do the location and building justice,” he added.
