A North Yorkshire property developer has invested £7.5 million to start a luxury family hotel in York, plus a separate restaurant, with apartments above, on the other side of the city.

David Hattersley, of Nun Monkton, plans to fully open Marmadukes, his 22-room boutique hotel in St Peter's Grove, off Bootham, tomorrow.

Having acquired Tricksters, in Fossgate, the heart of York's swish restaurant area, he is closing the business the following Tuesday and, after six weeks' work, it will re-emerge as Harvilles Restaurant with seven luxury homes above it for rent.

Mr Hattersley said Marmadukes was now unrecognisable from its beginnings as the empty Orchard Court Hotel which he bought in 2005.

He said: "I had planning permission to turn it into nine apartments, but so many hotels in York had been lost to apartments that I realised that there was a market for a small, beautiful hotel which would be the city's finest and I decided to give it a whirl."

It took 30 men more than a year to create the final product from the 19th century complex, which boasts its own Roman garden and relaxation suite. All the rooms are fully equipped with internet connectivity and flat screen televisions He said: "There will be none of this big company profit-related attitude, but personal and genuine one-to-one service. That's why our family are in charge of running this place."

Mr Hattersley's daughter, Emma Watkins, together with New Zealander husband, Christopher, have taken on the challenge of putting Marmadukes on the map and opened half of the premises on Good Friday, April 14. Now all the rooms are in use.

Emma said "My father has spared no expense in getting this place right. The furnishings are mainly Georgian whilst the fabrics are Italian and absolutely stunning. The rooms are really beautiful."

Double rooms will typically cost £110 per night, although there are single rooms at £65 and a four-poster room at £140.

Meanwhile, Mr Hattersley said his new restaurant would be available to his hotel clients via a free taxi service. The staff of Tricksters would stay on at Harvilles, including its chef, John Griffiths, formerly of the Blue Bicycle.

Harvilles, part of a £3 million investment, will include an oyster, Champagne and Guinness bar with a much changed menu.

Mr Hattersley said: "We will be 100 per cent focused on Yorkshire food, with most of our ingredients sourced in the county. We want to get away from fussy French cooking with fancy sauces and get back to wholesome basics, concentrating on steak and sea food like Dales prime ribs and Whitby lobster and kippers."

The new apartments will entail building a pantile roof on what used to be a flat roofed building. "That will harmonise well with the skyline," he said.