A PRESTIGIOUS city hotel will live on despite its parent company this week going into receivership, administrators have said.

The Vermont, on Castle Garth, Newcastle, has welcomed millions of guests and won a host of awards in the two decades it has been operating.

The four-star hotel has been one of the region’s great success stories. But in September, the decision was taken to put the 101-room landmark on the market for £9m after Anthony Zivanaris, the millionaire owner of the hotel’s parent company Lincoln Group Ltd, announced his retirement.

The Journal has learned that Lincoln Group has now gone into receivership and London-based finance consultants Deloitte are in talks with at least two firms seeking to secure a multi-million pound takeover of the hotel.

Adrian Berry, of Deloitte, said concrete bids had been received and contracts with the successful company should be exchanged by March.

At least one of the bidders is believed to be a national hotel chain. Deloitte would not reveal any more details or whether the asking price had been met.

Real estate advisory organisations Colliers International and Christie and Co are acting as joint agents on the sale.

Julian Troup, head of UK Hotels Agency at Colliers International, said: “This is an outstanding high-profile hotel instruction that has unsurprisingly attracted a considerable amount of interest from the shortlist of targeted buyers that were initially approached in a confidential fashion.”

The Lincoln Group also owns the Baltimore Hotel in Middlesbrough and the Portland Hotel in Hull. Mr Zivanaris was known in the 1990s for paying to keep the Tyne Bridge lit up after 10pm after guests said they liked the lights.

Formerly the headquarters of Northumberland County Council, the Vermont opened in 1993. In 1997, it became the city’s first establishment to be awarded three rosettes in the AA Rosette Award scheme.

It has welcomed the likes of singer Engelbert Humperdinck, promoter David Gest, and Geordie duo Ant and Dec. Kelly Brook played an Italian temptress in the film School for Seduction, set at the hotel.