A HEARTBROKEN hotel proprietor has described how he has had no choice but to close his manor house hotel near Tavistock.

Duncan Murray and his family made the decision to close Lewtrenchard Manor on Tuesday ‘with a heavy heart’ after several attempts to sell the lease fell through.

Costs had spiralled with the cost of living crisis and things had been difficult since Covid.

The hotel is a family business, bought by Mr Murray’s parents in 1988. They have owned the the lease for 27 years in total.

Thirty-two people worked at the hotel in total, including part-time roles. All the staff have lost their jobs.

“This is the last thing we wanted to happen,’ said Mr Murray, adding that the closure came ‘as a bit of a shock’.

Mr Murray’s parents bought the business in 1988. They later sold the least in 2003 before buying it back in 2012.

Releasing a statement, the Murray family said: “It is with a significant amount of regret that we have permanently closed Lewtrenchard Manor. We made this decision with a heavy heart, but due to difficult trading conditions since Covid and several failed sales of our lease we had no further options to us.

 “Our thoughts are with all the members of our wonderful and fantastic team who have lost their jobs, and we wish them all the best for the future, and to so many guests we count as friends, who chose to stay and visit us time and time again.’

Mr Murray sounded emotional as he explained that efforts to sell the business as a going concern had provided unsuccessful.

‘It has been on the market for some time. We had various interested parties and and the sales have fallen through for various reasons.”

He said the last one had fallen through because of concerns that the roof would need replacing in due course “and that is quite a considerable cost”.

He said the business had experienced difficulties “since Covid”.

“The actual number of guests weren’t too bad, it is just the costs have spiralled and there is very little a small company can do about that,” he said.