What does future hold for Moggerhanger House as it blames closure on pandemic and cost of living crisis?

The Grade I Georgian building has shut its main house and tearooms much to the heartfelt dismay of the public, although its grounds will still remain open to visitors.The property, designed by Sir John Soane and landscape architect Humphry Repton, is owned by the Moggerhanger House Preservation Trust, but run by an operating company, Moggerhanger Park Services Ltd, which is in "financial difficulties" and has ceased trading.

Chair of Trustees, Timothy Vince, said: "It's really the consequence of the Covid lockdown. Having come out of Covid our reserves really did run dry. We have to keep the house functioning through the winter, and regretfully, we decided that it wasn't possible to sustain monthly losses. It's about £5,000 a month for electricity and gas.

"We have tried really hard in the last year. We offer tea rooms, a space for conferences, overnight accommodation, and a limited number of weddings. But it's difficult to create surplus funds necessary to pay for the overhead costs of such a large building."

Mr Vince explained that while other hospitality venues could turn off the lights and save money on bills during the pandemic, this wasn't possible for Moggerhanger House, as the old building still needed to be maintained and heated. Its east façade also needed restoring last year.

The Trust informed the Chronicle that the new operating company "appeared to be doing well" over the summer, but with higher energy costs as the weather got colder and fewer people wanting to spend nights in a historic house during autumn, it started making losses from September onwards.

A Trust spokesman added: "By November it was clear that money was running out and the company was unable to continue trading."

The operating company was set up in August 2021 by the Trust in order to reopen the house as a B&B and events venue post-Covid. Sadly, 15 staff have now been made redundant.

The Trust spokesman said: "We are very sorry that having taken on new staff in the last year, we have had to let them go again so soon."

The Trust is now hoping that it can reopen its cafe in January, in time for the snowdrops. As to whether it is seeking a new management company, it stated that "any proposals would be welcome", but that it is also exploring other avenues, such as just keeping the house as a museum and running volunteer-led tours. Mr Vince stated that it was also exploring the option of charity partners, or even hosting Ukrainian refugees.

The spokesman added: "One of the main aims of the charitable trust is to benefit the local community and we will reopen the house as soon as possible. This could be very quickly if we are talking about access to the public for daytime tours, but we want to take our time to look at the long term future of the house as an accommodation and events venue."

Mr Vince concluded: "We have had wonderful support from the village and local community and I believe with a combined effort we can find a new dawn."

Donations and requests to join the Trust's 'Friends scheme' can be made via its website.

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