Crazy Bear hotels close for good as Brakspear buys freeholds
BDO sold the freeholds of Stadhampton and Beaconsfield to pub group Brakspear three days after Crazy Bear's second administration in under two years, ending about 130 jobs.
Crazy Bear's two hotels have closed for good, with administrators selling the freeholds of Stadhampton and Beaconsfield to pub group Brakspear three days after the hotel group's second administration in under two years.
Kiri Holland and Danny Dartnaill of BDO LLP, appointed joint administrators on 27 October, confirmed the sale on 29 October. "Unfortunately it has not been possible to preserve the hotel operations," Holland said, adding that the team's immediate priority is supporting staff and affected customers.
About 130 staff were employed across the two properties. Most have been made redundant, with a small number kept on to help the administrators wind the business down.
Unfortunately it has not been possible to preserve the hotel operations, the administrators said.
All event, room, spa and restaurant bookings at both hotels were cancelled. Stadhampton, the group's original Oxfordshire property, has 23 bedrooms, two restaurants, a bar, a terrace and event space for up to 250 guests. Beaconsfield, which opened in 2008, has 35 bedrooms, two restaurants, a bar, an outdoor pool and event space for up to 150 guests.
Brakspear buys the freeholds
Brakspear, the Henley-on-Thames pub group, bought both freeholds and plans a refurbishment programme ahead of reopening the sites. The Crazy Bear brand and its hotel operations are not continuing under the new owner.
The closures came about a week after Beaconsfield opened Fable, a new restaurant led by head chef Pete Gray. Fable followed the closure of Bear by Carlo Scotto, a 14-cover chef's table at the hotel that had run for three months.
A second collapse in under two years
Crazy Bear, founded by Jason Hunt in 1993, first entered administration in December 2024. Directors Richard Booth and Tom Etridge bought the group back in a pre-pack deal for £6.5m in January 2025; Etridge resigned as a director of both parent companies in September 2025.
The second collapse leaves the Crazy Bear hotel brand without a single open site for the first time since 1993, and hands two Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire properties to a pub operator with no stated plans to keep either running as a hotel.
