Signature’s Shankly Hotel in administration
The Liverpool hotel run by developer Lawrence Kenwright’s Signature Living Group has collapsed into administration citing pressures from the Covid-19 pandemic, and after being put on the market last year.
The Shankly Hotel at 60 Victoria Street in the city centre includes 59 aparthotel-style bedrooms celebrating Liverpool FC football player and manager, Bill Shankly.
The hotel, which was established in 2015, also has a bar and restaurant, two event suites, two rooftop terraces and an underground car park.
Matthew Ingram and Michael Lennon at Duff & Phelps have been appointed joint administrators of the hotel’s management company, Signature Shankly, this month, and said in a statement on Friday they have been working with the directors to understand the “future trading outlook of the hotel”.
The hotel is currently closed while coronavirus-related restrictions are imposed across the entire UK hospitality industry. However, it is expected to open for business as usual once restrictions are lifted, and all wedding, events and accommodation bookings are being honoured and new booking enquiries still being accepted, the statement added.
Lennon said: “The hospitality industry as a whole has seen increased pressures in recent years and has now been instantly hit incredibly hard by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“As a result, the Shankly is temporarily closed, although management’s expectation is that once the lockdown is lifted trading will continue as normal.”
Signature Shankly holds the leasehold interest of the 100,000 sq ft building. Last September, Place North West reported that the company’s owner Signature Living, the hospitality and residential developer headed up by Kenwright, put The Shankly and another of its Liverpool hotels, 30 James Street, on the market with Savills for £35m and £16m respectively. Part of the ground and first floor of the building is taken up by a gym leased to Liverpool Council for 10 years.
Duff & Phelps was unable to say whether the Shankly building is still being marketed for sale.
The administrators said the wider Signature Living Group remains unaffected. Other projects being brought forward by Kenwright include the Dixie Dean Hotel, the Cavern Walks Hotel and Kingsway House.
