TWO York hotels – formerly part of flamboyant businessman David Hattersley’s empire – are set to raise more than £2 million after being placed on the market.

The Guy Fawkes Inn, in High Petergate, and Marmadukes, in St Peter’s Grove, which between them employ 37 people, are being sold separately by administrators who have been running them since last May.

The 13-bedroom Guy Fawkes, controversially claimed to be the birthplace of York’s infamous gunpowder plotter, has a guide price of £1.1 million for the freehold.

Marmadukes, a boutique hotel with 20 en-suite bedrooms and a dedicated business centre, is being offered for £1.25 million by agents Colliers Robert Barry.

Brian Tyrrell, of administrators Baker Tilly, said there had already been “significant” interest in the hotels.

“The administrators are confident that offers will be made for the hotels as going concerns,” he said.

The hotels, which traded under the De Bretton Hospitality banner, went into administration last May after the Nationwide Building Society took control. De Bretton was the second wing of Mr Hattersley’s portfolio to collapse in the recession, with his building business, David Hattersley Ltd, ceasing trading in 2008 with debts of £120,000.

The Guy Fawkes Inn opened in April 2008, after Mr Hattersley had bought and renovated the old Guy Fawkes Hotel.

It was popular with drinkers, winning the “pub of the season” award from York Campaign for Real Ale, but ran into trouble with conservationists and historians, who disputed its claim to be Guy’s birthplace. There was also a lengthy planning wrangle over a handwritten sign on the building’s timber frontage, and over large hanging lanterns.

Marmadukes, in St Peter’s Grove, off Bootham, opened in May 2006, Mr Hattersley having bought the empty Orchard Court Hotel the previous year, and reportedly spent £5 million converting it into a 22-room boutique hotel.

The Press reported last November how 20 businesses, individuals and organisations, including City of York Council and Tourism York, were left out of pocket when De Bretton went into administration.

Documents obtained from Companies House by The Press showed Mr Hattersley claimed he was personally left £1.1 million out of pocket as a result of his troubles.