Stradey Park Hotel in Llanelli closed suddenly at the start of this month. People had booked rooms and events and want their money back. But it is proving quite difficult.
Inside the now closed Stradey Park Hotel in Llanelli (Image: Joann Randles / Cover Images)
Mystery continues to surround the future of a once-proud Welsh hotel which thrust itself into a whirlwind of controversy three years ago and then closed suddenly earlier this month without warning staff or customers – leaving many of them out of pocket.
The Stradey Park Hotel in Llanelli announced in May 2023 that it was shutting its doors to paying guests. Instead the historic building would become a home to around 240 asylum seekers after a deal was struck with the Home Office. Huge protests and demonstrations took place outside the spa and wedding venue, lasting several months, before it was confirmed that the hugely controversial plan had been shelved one morning in October 2023.
The hotel re-opened in 2024 and despite losing much of the local community’s trust, the site’s owners vowed to return the venue to its former glory. Stay informed on Carms news by signing up to our newsletter here.
In a bid to wipe a controversy-laden slate clean, the hotel changed ownership: Ullcom Limited – based in Hounslow in England – confirmed it had acquired a majority shareholding in a business previously owned by Sterling Woodrow Investments/Gryphon Leisure Limited.
But earlier this month, the hotel shut once more. There were no warnings, just rumours, before staff at the hotel confirmed its fate over the phone. Weeks later, the hotel has not posted a thing about the closure on its social media channels.
In fact, the hotel’s website is still active and online, but attempts to book a room are met with greyed-out dates which cannot be selected. You can purchase gift vouchers, however, including a £21.95 Sunday lunch.
Frankly, getting any answers from anyone connected with Stradey Park Hotel has always been a tricky – bordering on impossible – task. The Home Office has at least confirmed there are no discussions taking place about using the site for the housing of asylum seekers either now or at any point in the future.
But getting answers from the hotel directly has been a big problem not just for the media but for would-be guests too, it seems.
‘Keeping up with the Stradey Park Hotel’ has proved quite difficult (Image: Joann Randles / Cover Images)
One local man booked a family birthday celebration at the hotel, scheduled to take place at the end of March, comprising food, a disco, and four rooms.
He says he paid a £100 deposit and then a further £800 to complete the payment. But then, one night earlier this month he was scrolling through Facebook and realised he would have to make alternative plans.
“I had no call or message from the hotel, I just saw a post on Facebook saying it had closed,” he said.
“I’ve phoned and phoned and had no answer. So I went down there and spoke to a man at the gate of the hotel, only to be told that the manager wasn’t available.
“I’ve given up trying now – I can’t get any answers from the hotel. Thankfully we’ve found another venue for the party.”
The hotel was a popular events venue for years, attracting people from all over Carmarthenshire and beyond(Image: Joann Randles / Cover Images)
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Another customer said she too only found out the venue was closing after being alerted to the news on social media.
The woman, from Carmarthen, booked a 2027 wedding at the hotel and paid a £500 deposit back in January, with further payments due nearer to the date.
“When I saw a post online initially I thought it wasn’t true, so I called up the hotel and spoke to a member of staff,” she said.
“She sounded quite upset and said staff had just been told the hotel would be closing immediately and that they didn’t know what was happening with their pay.
“She said somebody would be in touch with us about the booking and a refund. We haven’t heard anything.”
Another guest told us he booked a room at the hotel for this weekend through Booking.com. He too is struggling to get a refund because, he claims, the booking site needs confirmation of the closure directly from the hotel.
Police outside the hotel during protests in 2023(Image: John Myers)
A High Court winding-up petition has been launched against Gryphon Leisure Limited, the former owner of Stradey Park Hotel.
In 2024, a majority shareholding of the venue was sold to Ullcom Limited. According to Companies House, both Ullcom Limited and Gryphon Leisure Limited have the same director – a man named Ahsan Ullah.
Mr Ullah is also listed as a director of several other companies, most of which are listed as having the same correspondence address, in Hounslow.
There is also a company listed at Companies House under the name ‘Stradey Park Hotel #77 SAPL LTD’. Mr Ullah is not listed as being connected with the company.
Its correspondence address is located in Singapore, while the company itself was incorporated in Tortola, the largest of the British Virgin Islands in the Caribbean.
Mr Ullah posted a brief video statement in the days following the hotel’s closure, saying: “This is an ongoing matter. For that reason, it would not be appropriate to go into further details at this stage.
“I understand fully that this has had a profound impact on our staff and our customers and I want to state clearly that I am doing everything within my capacity to protect the long-term sustainability of the hotel.”
There has been no information made available to the public since then.
The hotel previously closed in 2023 as it prepared to welcome hundreds of asylum seekers – a plan which led to widespread protests and demonstrations (Image: John Myers)
Mr Ullah is active on X – formerly known as Twitter – and has responded to replies to his multiple posts (about other topics) which bring up the issue of refunds connected to bookings at Stradey Park Hotel. He has supplied an e-mail address for those impacted to contact – admin@ullcom.co.uk – but people are still waiting for their money.
“I saw a post of his on X and I replied asking about my refund,” said the Carmarthen bride-to-be, who has since managed to book another venue.
“He replied straight away asking me to send an e-mail with the details. I have not heard anything back, and I’ve been replying to his various posts on X repeatedly.
“Some people have mentioned that if our money was paid on a credit card we could get it back, but we just transferred the money, so we don’t know if we’ll get it back.
“So many people have said the same thing, about weddings, events, proms…..it’s disgraceful. Even if they got back to us now, after all this time, even if they reopened – we’ll never use that hotel. Never again.”
Wales Online has tried continuously to contact Stradey Park Hotel and its owners by calling and e-mailing the hotel, calling and e-mailing Ullcom Ltd, and by engaging directly with Mr Ullah on X. None of the attempts have been successful.