Couples' shock as Oakhouse Hotel in Axbridge cancels wedding bookings

Couples have spoken of their shock after the wedding venue where they had been due to get married closed.

Scott Norton-Ashley, from Bristol, said he only found out his wedding at the Oakhouse Hotel in Axbridge had been cancelled via social media.

"We planned the whole wedding around that venue," he said.

The insolvency company overseeing the Oakhouse Hotel said it was "unlikely" couples would receive any money back after liquidation.

In a statement, insolvency firm Leonard Curtis said: "As the company responsible for the management of the venue is being placed into liquidation, the property will be returned to the owner for future management of the property.

"We have been contacted by a number of customers with regards to their cancelled wedding bookings and have advised them to contact their credit card providers or check any wedding insurance policies."

They said, unless customers "can obtain redress from their credit card or insurance providers", claiming money back was "unlikely".

The BBC has seen emails sent to couples with weddings booked at the venue in which the owners said the hotel was "ceasing to trade" and it would be "unable to fulfil obligations" to wedding bookings.

Mr Norton-Ashley and fiancée Jolie Stokes had booked a wedding for 2025 at the venue.

"It was becoming harder and harder to get hold of them. We were a bit confused," Mr Norton-Ashley told BBC Radio Somerset.

"To not know what was going on at all was really poor. We didn't get any communication about our deposits.

"It would have been quite picturesque for the time of year we were going to have it," he added.

Anton Booth, from Somerset, also had a wedding booked at the Oakhouse Hotel, for June 2025.

"We both live in Somerset and wanted to keep it local," he said. "It was a nice, rustic pub in a lovely area.

"As soon as we saw it, we fell in love with it," he added.

A few weeks ago, the couple received an email from the venue's in-house wedding planner, informing them that she no longer worked with them and did not want to be contacted.

When they checked the Oakhouse's website and social media they found they had been taken down.

"There was a lot of panic and confusion," Mr Booth said.

"One of the reasons we booked far in advance was to take the stress out of it. We'd booked everything, sent out save the dates.

"This year we were going to be busy moving house. Now we have to change everything.

"We put a deposit down. Everyone lost money all around," he added.

Amanda-Louise Knight, a wedding planner from Minehead, said that it was "a shame" that Somerset had lost the venue.

She said a mix of Covid lockdown and the cost of living crisis meant some wedding venues were struggling.

"The economic climate at the moment, prices are rising, and it's the same with the wedding business," she said.

The email from the Oakhouse Hotel to customers referenced "many external factors" leading to "an impossible economic climate" which had meant they were unable to continue funding the hotel.

Customers were asked to contact an insolvency company with queries over their booking.

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