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100 to lose jobs as Selsdon Birch hotel closes its doors tonight

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Brief lives: the bar and restaurants at Birch Selsdon overlook 200 acres of North Downs parkland. The venue had only been open since April

By STEVEN DOWNES

Birch Selsdon, the former Selsdon Park Hotel which reopened earlier this year after an 18-month, multi-million makeover that transformed it into a “shabby chic” lifestyle venue with top-end, and expensive, restaurants, is to close its doors for a final time tonight.

Around 100 staff will lose their jobs, after administrators who were appointed earlier this month failed to find buyers for the business as a going concern.

Many of the casual staff at the £220 per night hotel had already been let go. Some who remain have had to learn quickly to multi-task: the gardener has been staffing reception in the past week. Out of work less than a month before Christmas, it seems very unlikely that any staff will receive any redundancy pay from the failed business.

Shabby chic: the BIrch overhaul brought a touch of fashionable Shoreditch to Selsdon

Staff who spoke to Inside Croydon were close to, or in, tears.

The administrators had promised an update by last Friday, but when no news emerged, sources at the hotel began to fear the worst.

A statement was posted on hotel’s website today.

It says: “Milan Vuceljic and Andrew Pear of Moorfields Advisory were appointed Joint Administrators of Selsdon Estates Op Co Limited on 17 November 2023.

“The affairs, business and property of the company are being managed by the Joint Administrators. The Joint Administrators and their staff act as agents of the company and without personal liability.

“We regret to inform you that the Joint Administrators have taken the difficult decision to close the hotel with immediate effect.

“We appreciate this is disappointing news and apologise for the obvious distress and disruption to our members, guests, suppliers and the employees.”

The business owners, Aprirose, had bought the De Vere Selsdon Estate in a multi-million-pound deal in 2021. They closed the hotel and the adjoining golf club that November, and the hotel was closed for refurbishment throughout 2022, through to April this year.

But behind the scenes, there were problems, and cashflow issues. The Birch founder, entrepreneur Chris King, quit the business earlier this year, even before the Selsdon opened.

Pumping iron: members paid £150 per month, plus a £300 joining fee, to use the Birch facilities, such as the weight machines and gym

According to a report by The Caterer, the business ran into difficulty due to “cash constraints”. The first Birch hotel, in Cheshunt, was closed two weeks ago.

Birch Selsdon had three bars and two restaurants, Elodie and Vervain, which were managed by Michelin-starred chef, Lee Westcott. Observer restaurant critic, Jay Rayner, on a visit in the last few weeks, was very complimentary about the food. “The terrific cooking here seriously deserves a tidier, snazzier setting,” Rayner wrote.

Birch operated largely on a membership basis, and Selsdon had attracted around 700 since it opened in May, using its gym, “wellness centre”, lido, grounds and work spaces.

“I loved it,” one Birch Selsdon member told Inside Croydon.

Administrative measures: the terse letter sent to Birch staff two weeks ago

“Yeah, some restaurant staff were from the agencies and inexperienced, but there were also the best mixologists and hospitality staff I’d ever seen. Michelin-quality food and a really welcoming atmosphere. Definitely the most down to earth members club I’d been to, and quite a few areas open to the public to try.

“I’m so sad this is closing. I wish more was done to give it a real chance.”

Birch Selsdon’s members (£150 per hipster per month, or £280 per month for a job lot of two) received an email yesterday stating that the venue would be closed to them from midnight tonight, November 29.

Perhaps £100,000 of members’ subscriptions for December would not be a big enough cash injection to keep the hotel operating for another month?

Long-held fears that the heritage 19th Century building and its surrounding 200 acres of parkland might be under threat of redevelopment and possibly used for housing will now re-emerge.

Stunning views: there’s well-placed anxiety about what is to become of the 19th Century hotel buildings and grounds

The business’s creditors have certainly begun to emerge, with one contractor who worked on the maintenance and design of the building claiming to be owed more than £6,000 in unpaid invoices by the hotel.

Inside Croydon has also seen a letter from administrator Vuceljic at Moorfields that warned that, “No member of staff may speak to the press or other media…”, whatever that’s supposed to mean, “… without my express prior consent.”

The letter outlined the administrator’s role, who would oversee all purchase orders and raising of sales invoices and the banking and handling of cash and credit card transactions.

The administrator also demanded to sanction all “acceptance of goods inwards not ordered by us or our representatives”, a stricture which may have made operating the restaurants, with daily fresh food deliveries, more than a little awkward.

“Please also note that all credit accounts operated by the company have now been cancelled and that all credit cards should be returned to my staff immediately.” Which will have made operating stock for the bars and the restaurants impossible.

But at least not everyone missed out.

Back in May, one of the first guests for dinner was none other than Croydon’s Mayor, Jason Perry.

He nabbed a meal for four (four, no less! Lucky fella). His official declarations failed to identify which of the restaurants he and his pals dined in. If it was Vervain, they might have enjoyed beef sirloin for £36, or pork belly for £19, or a chicken salad for £16 (though, by repute, Mayor Perry is a bit of a salad dodger).

All possibly plus starters (around £14 a pop) or a dessert. There may even have been drinks. Cheers!

Mayor Perry did not pay for his “dinner for four people” at Birch on May 6, but he estimated it cost… a mere £100.

Let’s hope Perry left a generous tip, at his own expense.

Read more: Administrators move in to run Selsdon’s ‘shabby chic’ hotel
Read more: Lots of reservations after Selsdon hotel and golf course close
Read more: Get orf moy laaand! Posh hotel declares parkland a no-go zone


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