The Sharrow Bay Hotel in Ullswater has announced it is set to go into liquidation.

The hotel has planned a resolution to consider folding the venue on Friday.

The statement of finance reportedly revealed an estimated total assets available for preferential creditors of £83,898, alongside an estimated deficiency to creditors of over £2.3m.

Currently, both the hotel’s website, booking service and telephone calls are unavailable.

Alison Magee Barker, owner of AJ Lakes Consultancy who previously worked with the Ullswater hotel, called the decision “heartbreaking,” insinuating it could be related to the current difficulties faced by the hospitality industry.

In a tweet yesterday, the hospitality expert said that the liquidation of the “iconic” 1948 hotel was “particularly gutting”, given that in usual circumstances, she has a “track record of turning businesses around and adding at least £100k onto revenue.”

Papers sent out to creditors by email on Wednesday revealed that the administrators, Portland, who are based at Fareham, Hampshire, were first contacted by the director of Sharrow Bay Hotel Ltd, Andrew Davis, on 3 July.

The hotel was opened in 1948 by the late Francis Coulson, who created the first ever country house hotel along with his partner Brian Sack, who joined him in 1952. The 26-bedroomed hotel, which overlooks Ullswater towards the Lakeland fells, became a firm favourite with celebrities.

In 2003, the hotel was sold to the Von Essen hotel chain for £5 million. The chain later went into administration with debts of nearly £300 million.

The Sharrow Bay was snapped up by a private equity company, London-based Hamilton Bradshaw, run by entrepreneur and former Dragons’ Den investor James Caan, for a knock down £1.5 million in 2012. In 2013 Andrew Davis, the founder of the Von Essen group, took it on again and invested heavily in the hotel.

Mr Davis also owned Ston Easton Park hotel in Somerset which has too been placed into administration leaving 18 staff redundant. The four-red-AA-star, 23-bedroom property in Somerset found its financial position and cashflow severely compromised following the outbreak of Covid-19 and the lockdown measures that were put in place.