Lawrence Kenwright declared bankrupt
The Liverpool-based businessman behind the ailing Signature Living empire has been handed a 12-month bankruptcy order.
Lawrence and Katie Kenwright, the husband-and-wife duo behind a host of well-known hotels across the region, were declared bankrupt by the insolvency service on Tuesday.
The 12-month bankruptcy orders follow a difficult few years for the Signature group, which has seen a string of businesses go bust following the pandemic owning millions to creditors.
In 2020, six entities fell into administration, including the hotel group’s parent company, Signature Living Hotel and two vehicles behind residential schemes in Liverpool and Manchester.
Four more group companies collapsed in the summer of 2022, including those behind the Dixie Dean Hotel in Liverpool and the proposed Shankly Hotel in Preston.
Lawrence Kenwright was also declared bankrupt in 2010. In an interview six years later, he said the experience had made him “a better businessman”.
Kenwright fronted the Liberate Liverpool movement, which saw several independent candidates run for election under its banner at last year’s local elections.
A curious and contradictory character. On the one hand, an undoubted visionary with extraordinary energy and a real feel for his core market. He enjoyed great trading success and you can’t take that away from him.
But, as the stories behind his various company collapses confirmed, the funding model he utilised left him uniquely vulnerable, on account of developing too many schemes at once. As soon as the music stopped… It always struck me as a very obvious strategic risk, so perhaps he didn’t learn those earlier lessons quite as much as he said. Wherein lay another issue: for all that he was charming and good company, he had a certainty about his own viewpoint that could see him become very prickly if people contradicted him. He started picking fights with people in the political arena, which is never a smart move in Liverpool. The rest we know.
Amidst all this remain a litany of investors who lost millions of pounds and who walked away from Liverpool with a dimmer view of the city than was fair.
By Anonymous