The company that was previously behind The George Hotel in Yarmouth, led by Howard Spooner, has appointed liquidators and is now known to owe almost £1million to creditors – including over £600,000 to HMRC.
Quay Street Ltd, trading as The George Hotel and Beach Club, appointed Begbies Traynor (London) LLP as liquidators on 28th April 2023, leaving many businesses out of pocket.
A statement of affairs has confirmed that the company owes a staggering £966,870 to 56 creditors – this includes a number of Isle of Wight-based firms.
The George Hotel remains open and trading as it is now owned by Solent View Hotels Ltd, whose sole director is Felix Spooner – a 26-year-old who runs the clothing store Heaven Can Wait. It is unknown how much he has paid for The George Hotel and whether Howard Spooner remains in any managerial role.
The high-end hotel recently starred in Channel 5’s The Jewel of the South programme which featured Howard and his business quite heavily, to some criticism.
Both The George Hotel and Begbies Traynor have been approached for a statement.
Shocking. Devious. Criminal. Please tell me he’ll be hunted down for every penny owes. What car does he drive? What house/houses does he own? Where does Spooner Junior’s money come from?
Of course he won’t have to pay a penny. That is the wonderful joy of limited liability.
The law needs changing. Entitled people should not be able to walk away from debt because of poor legislation . Echoes of Island Harbour , Dominic Chappell , Philip Green et al .
Honest hard working people foot the bills because of lack of accountability.
I wonder if Felix Spooner is related to Howard Spooner and what his motive is for this latest move.
Perhaps Price Harry will help as he is a mate.
Solent View Hotels Ltd has only existed for 21 weeks with no filing history, strange that.
I wonder how much was paid for the hotel.
If you Google Howard Spooner it makes interesting reading.
We need a new TV programme about this fiasco.
The hotel was not in the balance sheet, it’s owned by a different entity which is why you can run up debt and then start over.
This hotel did get a lot of free publicity and while we enjoyed the programmes, it featured rather heavily. The posh boat and events probably cost a lot too. Sad to see any business go under but we also feel for all the suppliers who no doubt have been badly hit. Don’t expect the tax people are happy either.
Don’t feel sad. This is how such people seem to operate. They probably couldn’t care less about the damage they inflict on small businesses. Check out his company ownership history. Amazes me how businesses don’t do the same before offering credit.
Maybe anyone supplying The George in future should require legal personal financial guarantees by the Spooner duo.
More generally speaking Limited liability legal entities give an unfair advantage to those with no intention of paying their creditors.
Simple just don’t allow them a credit account, pro-forma invoice only
Oh Good Lord, poor Howard. I do hope he is OK. But I’m sure dear Howie will come out of this with plenty of dosh for a lovely holiday in Barbados to get over the terrible stress of rinsing local businesses. Maybe Felix can pay for the trip.
Nepotism at its best…. How was it allowed to get so bad ?
Must have been all those bottles of rosé he bought.
Such a great advert for the IOW after taking up so much time on The Jewel of the South programme….
I fail to understand how a company can go into liquidation and then the son is appointed to take over yet his company Solent View Hotels Ltd was only Incorporated on 2 February 2023. How very convenient and obviously pre-planned.
Hope HMRC take a very close look. Many of us believe in Karma.
This just about sums up his history!
https://companycheck.co.uk/director/909769034/MR-HOWARD-DUNCAN-SPOONER/summary
So one family member takes hotel into liquidation and walks away from their debts and another family takes it over,i knew Yarmouth was a bit of a fishing port but the smell of fish is a bit strong there now.
Theft by any other name !!!!
Thieving lying cheating scumbag…
Knowingly ordering stock with no intention of paying for it …
More businesses will suffer because of Champagne Charlie ….. A total leech .
Smarmy scumbag …
And still running the business through a relative ….
Vote with your feet, don’t put money into their pockets, cos it will happen again, should be a law to sell itand pay all back .
I hope no locals ever spend any money there again. Gossips is a much nicer place for a coffee and at a fair price.
Run by real people , not those who spend their lives ignoring their creditors and exploiting loopholes that enable them to take other peoples hard earned money
All that posturing on Jewel of the South from Howard while the whole thing was a thin veneer of affluence disguising a debt ridden and unfeasible business!
I feel sorry for the staff, trying to do their jobs in all innocence and probably being told to achieve certain ‘standards’, all the while the enterprise was a posh facade ! what a shame.
Let’s hope that island tradespeopleand suppliers refuse to serve them and have to rely on mainland
Let’s hope everyone tells the thieving scumbags where to go !!!!
( HELL) ….
To be honest wouldn’t pee on them if they were on fire ,let alone sell them a cucumber !!!!!
And those that advertise hotels etc ,refuse to entertain any adverts for thieving scumbags….
Another overner trashing our island
All Island businesses should boycott The George Hotel.
No booze, no food, no meat, no veg.
No business.
It might be a nice hotel in the lovely setting of Yarmouth, but I think Howard has got a little above his station! Spend, spend, spend…… he’s living and working on the Isle of Wight, not Mayfair!!!! Let’s hope all the ‘local’ businesses he owes money to, get paid.
Well they obviously will not get paid. This low life knows how to play his game.
Well I really am most surprised by these comments. Have you people no idea how much a bottle of Cristal costs these days? Inflation has also hit the caviar and foie gras prices pretty badly too. Howie was considering giving up some of life’s little luxuries until Felix helped out. The little darling really saved the day. Hopefully, you all now have an inkling of how tough it has been. Toodle pip.
The money it sold for – will it be used to pay off the creditors first ?
No. It was probably sold for £1. Read the comments above for an explanation of how the wealthy screw the little men.
You may be right, there needs to be an investigation into the price paid and whether it was put out to tender. It smells fishier than out of date caviar, a purchase by a related party is very suspicious . The creditors derive better.
Sales to a related party need very close scrutiny as it is a licence to avoid paying creditors, I am sure Private Eye will be on the case !
Hey Gary, calm down. Never forget where you’ve come here from. Never pretend that it’s all real.
Someday soon this will all be someone else’s dream. This will be someone else’s dream
Must be news agent Dave. Spoons owes him for two copies of the Daily Mail and a Racing Post. Suspects that he took some Wrigleys too.
Hi Harry. Remember me? Spoons? Yes, from the old club scene in London. Wild times old boy. Anyway, I hear that things have gone an upward trajectory and you seem to be rolling in moolah from this Netflix tripe and a book (not that I have ever read one, lol). I have an interesting biz prop that could be mutually beneficial. Just pm me old bean. Regs Spoons
Just saying,, “Spooner” is RAF slang for a f***wit.