A luxury country hotel heavily criticised for doubling the price of booked weddings has said it will honour the original agreements. Matfen Hall in Northumberland brought in a minimum spend of £20,000, an increase of about £10,000 for many of the events. Matfen Hall was taken over last year by the Walwick Estate Group, which owns Walwick Hall near Hexham. The hotel initially said it had incurred a loss of more than £1.2m by honouring 119 weddings at prices agreed by the previous management, and that it could "no longer continue to sustain" that commitment. But a spokesman for the hotel has since said all the affected couples had now "been offered to have their weddings at the original price". In a new statement, the hotel said: "We unreservedly apologise for the hurt this decision has caused." The bad press caused by the original decision may not be easy to overcome as many couples were faced with either paying extra or finding another venue feel they can no longer trust the venue and are looking elsewhere.
