‘Mr Chester’ to sell hotel and bow out

Apr 4 2008 by David Holmes, Chester Chronicle

A CHESTER hotelier is selling his business as he prepares to retire.

Gordon Vickers, who co-owns the Mill Hotel & Spa with son Gary, is putting the 129-bed hotel on the market next week.

His daughter Maretta Williams, who is the general manager, said: “All kinds of rumours have been flying around. We heard it had been sold before it had even gone on the market!”

She said there was no buyer waiting in the wings at the moment but added: “Gordon is retiring and I don’t blame him. He’s done a lot for Chester and a lot for the hotel.”

Last year the hotel received planning permission for an extension with 24 extra bedrooms, suites, a crèche, conference facilities, a cafe bar, link bridge to the existing hotel, car parking and forecourt.

Mr Vickers image as “Mr Chester” began in the 1960s when he ran the regular Monday Wall City Jazz Club night at Quaintways, Northgate Street.

It was during this period that he got the chance to manage The Beatles – but turned them down because they were ‘too scruffy,’ a move he later described as the “worst decision of my life”.