It's the end of an era.
Brothers Joe and Johnny Marsden, who have been best friends and business partners for almost 44 years, have put up for sale the last significant remnant of their business empire – The Central Lodge hotel complex.
The legendary Huddersfield entrepreneurs who owned the famous Johnny’s nightclub from 1969 to 2003 say they want to spend more time with their families.
The success story began in 1969 and has continued unabated ever since.
Johnny, 25, was running Top Ten Taxis and his 16-year-old brother Joe was studying hotel and catering studies at Huddersfield Polytechnic when they began.
Their business soon expanded from the Old Bull’s Head in Beast Market with mum Delia, now 95, serving drinks and cooking burgers.
And they were soon opening the town’s first wine bar.
In 1976 they opened a beer garden, quite a novelty in those halcyon days, and business really started to boom with the advent of Saturday Night Fever in 1977.
Johnny’s nightclub was ‘The Place to Be’ and the money rolled in.
Other well-known acquirements included the Boy and Barrel pub and the Rosemary Lane bistro at the bottom of Kirkgate.
Much of their empire was sold in 2003 when leisure company London and Edinburgh Inns made them an offer they could not refuse.
But now as Joe begins his seventh decade, the duo, who are already semi-retired, say the time is right to wind down and spend more time with their families.
They bought the freehold to Goldies Guest House in 1998 and completely gutted it before reopening it under a new name in February 1999.
Marketed by chartered surveyors WalkerSingleton the site now comprises a number of “attractive and characterful buildings”.
The site, which covers more than 16,000 sq ft, is situated within a conservation area and the main Central Lodge building is Grade II listed.
But the Marsdens are keen to stress they are in no hurry to sell and would ideally welcome buyers who are in sympathy with their commercial traditions.
And they are anxious to highlight their commitment to their 14-strong staff who will enjoy a degree of protection post-sale and who they always refer to as their ‘team’.
Johnny said: “We have got through the big recession and our occupancy figures, (how many rooms are let), are now better despite the arrival of national budget hotels in the area, in the shape of Premier Inn and Travelodge.”
Asked how he had enjoyed his time at the complex he added: “The rapport that we have cultivated with big local companies and organisations has been a joy and continues to be so.”
Joe said: “In November/December 2013 Johnny and I will have worked together for 44 years, and for two brothers to be in business together – that’s a bit unique.”
The two men say they will still have some commercial properties in the town despite their dwindling portfolio.
