A grade I-listed castle-turned-hotel in the Cheshire countryside, which last month hosted the star-studded wedding of Leicester City and England striker Jamie Vardy, has grown revenues to almost £7m helped by a record performance from its events business.
Majorstage, which trades as Peckforton Castle in Tarporley, has posted a turnover of £6.8m for the year ending 31 October 2015, up by 7 per cent on a year earlier. Peckforton Castle has 48 bedrooms, the 1851 Restaurant, the 2010 Brasserie, the Cheshire franchise of Land Rover Experience, a falconry and a sports activity centre and hosts around 180 weddings per year.
The grade I-listed castle was built in the 1840s and 1850s and is described by Historic England as "one of the great buildings of its age". It is now owned by the Naylor family.
Christopher Naylor, managing director of Peckforton Castle, told Insider: "2015/16 has been another fantastic year for Majorstage and the team at Peckforton have delivered a strong performance, the investment we have made in our senior management team and the fact we took the decision to become an above-minimum-wage payer has really paid off.
"Our wedding and event business continues to grow and the forecast continues to be a very positive one. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the team for their dedication and passion, delivering fantastic customer feedback and results."
In May 2016, just weeks after Leicester City unexpectedly won the Premier League, the club's star striker Jamie Vardy married partner Becky Nicholson in a star-studded ceremony at Peckforton Castle after being excused from England's warm-up match against Australia ahead of Euro 2016.
The wedding was attended by celebrities including One Direction star Louis Tomlinson, Kasabian guitarist Sergio Pizzorno, X Factor winner Sam Bailey, Leicester City captain Wes Morgan and rapper Tinchy Stryder.
However, Peckforton Castle has also been increasingly successful in attracting high-spend private event enquiries in recent years. These can be worth as much as an exclusive wedding.
In a strategic report accompanying the accounts, the directors said: "Revenues are still strong with all main revenue segments performing and showing growth. The conference and events segment has had its best year's performance to date breaking the million-pound mark, something which is normally very difficult given the amount of weddings we facilitate."
"The team have become very savvy about placing high-revenue events around and in between weddings."
In December 2015, the family behind the Peckforton Castle completed the £5.35m acquisition of Nunsmere Hall Hotel (pictured) between Tarporley and Northwich. The deal for the 36-room boutique hotel, which sits in ten acres of manicured gardens and is bounded on three sides by a 60-acre lake, followed the administration of previous owner Prima Hotels.
Naylor said: "December 2015 saw us acquire Nunsmere Hall out of administration from Alix Partners.
"This is an extremely exciting opportunity to expand our brand, with Nunsmere Hall being the perfect sister property for Peckforton. As both businesses' sales grow, the opportunity to deliver an even stronger bottom-line profit for the group will be realised.
"The family are extremely excited and positive about the future growth plans for the group."
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