When I was in London in the 70’s I was introduced to Robert Peel who was then Banqueting Manager at the Grosvenor House Hotel at the time in the hands of Trust House Forte. He was leaving there to join Brown’s Hotel. When I was general Manager of the Mount Hotel in Leeds, it was owned by a small company Gale Lister & Co. which was eventually bought by Mount Charlotte Investments Ltd who had installed Robert Peel as MD. They were subsequently bought by Thistle hotels and Robert then became their CEO. Sadly some 20 years later he was ousted for a pretty bad expansion plan but founded his own company Peel Hotels and the first contract he had was to take on the management of 32 Thistle Hotels that the group had disposed of! Funny old world isn’t it as he is now back running the hotels that he once ran at Mount Charlotte.

Anyway the reason for me writing this article is because I read that the board of regional group Peel Hotels has decided to delist as a public company as it has no wish “to raise money on the market in the foreseeable future”.

Basically what it means is that Robert is taking back his company in a full circle of evolution!!

ONE OF THE JEWELS IN THE CROWN. CARLISLE

In an announcement issued via the London Stock Exchange, the company said it was “in the best interests of the company and its shareholders” to return to private ownership.

With only nine hotels now the chairman and founder of the group, said: “There has been a slow but sustained improvement in sales and hotel profitability since August 2018 up and until today’s date.

“In view of the high operational gearing of the business, small improvements in turnover translate to much higher percentages of hotel profitability and therefore if we can maintain this trend, we can expect our EBITDA and profits to move forward in the current year.

“The board have concluded that due to the costs of listing and the fact that there is no prospect of the company wishing to raise money on the market in the foreseeable future, that there seems little purpose in continuing to be listed and therefore propose cancellation of admission of ordinary shares to trading on AIM.”

The portfolio of Peel Hotels includes the Bull in Peterborough, the Midland in Bradford, Crown and Mitre in Carlisle and the Cosmopolitan in Leeds.