The owners of Kryal Castle have bought out the leasehold and are planning a $3 million makeover for the tourism attraction.
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Tadcaster Hospitality, which also owns Bluestone nightclub in Mair Street, bought Keith Ryall’s labour of love in 2012.
They entered into a leasehold agreement with Castle Tourism and Entertainment Pty Ltd, which is now in administration.
The company was listed as being under administration by Worrells Solvency & Forensic Accountants in late November.
A meeting of creditors for the company was held on Friday morning in Lydiard Street, Ballarat. Partner and liquidator Nathan Deppeler said the meeting, which was conducted by proxy, was held to approve a deed of company arrangement for Castle Tourism.
Mr Deppeler said that the landlord of Kryal Castle had effectively resumed the lease, and the meeting considered the entitlements of employees and other creditors.
Director of Tadcaster Mark Hinkley says it was the right time for the owner to take full possession.
“We are going to spend $3 million increasing the accommodation available at the site,” said Mr Hinkley.
“There will be new rooms and dormitories, and there’s an opportunity to develop areas at the front of the castle for glamping.”
Mr Hinkley said the focus of the business would be more on schools, rather than the idea of a ‘medieval theme park’. The historical aspects of castle life would be brought forward.
There were also renovations that needed to be undertaken in order to keep the castle, which occupies 11 hectares and requires constant maintenance.
He said all the staff currently working at Kryal Castle would be retained, and that business would continue as usual.
Kryal Castle has undergone its share of difficulties since Keith Ryall decided to sell the business in 2007.
It stayed on the market for many years, and a proposition to open a high-class brothel on the site was rejected in 2010.
In 2015 a promoter offered to hold a heavy metal concert at the venue and advertised it without being approved by the owners. The Rolling Thunder festival was cancelled.
Mr Kryal died in 2015, but his wife Joyce lives on a property adjoining her husband’s castle, built as a fulfilment of a childhood dream after he was given a sword by an uncle returning from WWII.