A clutch of well-known British artists have reportedly lost ‘tens of thousands of pounds’ in an ill-fated London hotel venture. They include Tracey Emin, who received the CBE in the New Year Honours List, Sarah Lucas and Scottish painter Peter Doig.
Tracey Emin with London Mayor Boris Johnson
They are among a host of celebrities signed up as ‘ambassador shareholders’ of the St John Hotel in Leicester Square by restaurateur and chef Fergus Henderson, the Evening Standard reports. Others losing out are gallery owner Sadie Coles and Littlewoods heir James Moores.
The fifteen room hotel, which was billed as ‘cheeky in a nice way,’ suffered a catalogue of difficulties before it entered administration in October.
These include opening a year later than scheduled, disputes with the builders renovating the property, disruption caused by unrelated construction work nearby and a slump in visitor numbers during the Olympics. As a result the hotel lost close to £1.5 million in its first year of trading.
The Evening Standard claims to have seen documents from the administrators which show that the artists, and other involved parties, invested a total of £2.25 million into the property and its overdue renovation which they are unlikely to get back.
Trevor Gulliver, Henderson’s business partner, told the newspaper that the investors have remained supportive.
“They are all grown-ups, no one put in millions or hundreds of thousands, “he said.
Mr Gulliver added that the failure of the hotel, which he says has at least ‘improved the streetscape,’ would not affect the rest of the St John restaurant group.
The hotel is now out of administration and under new ownership after the property was sold to a Singaporean hotelier for an undisclosed fee.
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