Stephanie Booth

Stephanie Anne Booth (25 May 1946 – 18 September 2016) was a transsexual British businessowner and hotelier, based in Llangollen.[1]

She starred in the reality television series about her businesses Hotel Stephanie for BBC Wales in 2008 and 2009.[2]

Early life

Born on 25 May 1946 as Keith Hull[3] in St Albans, Hertfordshire,[4] her parents were Jehovah Witnesses.[1]

Based with her family in northwest England, she began gender reassignment through a specialist psychologist at Wythenshawe Hospital, Manchester, and surgery at Charing Cross Hospital, London.[1]

Adult life

In 1984 Booth decided to create a business catering to the transgender and transvestite community. She was persuaded that a massage service that offered prostitution services was both legal, and could quickly solve her financial difficulties. She was arrested for running a bawdy house and pleaded guilty.[5]

Other business ventures included a transgender mail order catalogue, and a contact magazine. This was followed by a transgender hotel in Manchester, and a second shop in London opposite Euston railway station.[6]

Unable to open a shop in Scotland due to Scottish law, the company opened a site in Newcastle upon Tyne. They also expanded their mail order business to cover both Germany and mainland Europe, and the United States.[1] She founded the Albany Clinic as a centre for transsexuals to seek specialist medical advice and guidance on their condition.[7]

Hotel Stephanie

In 2008, Mentorn Cymru began production of reality television series Hotel Stephanie for BBC Wales.[8] The series focused on Booth and her running of her hotel chain, based mainly on activities around Llangollen. The programme was commissioned for a second series in 2009, which focused on the couples' takeover and refurbishment of The Wynnstay Arms hotel in Wrexham.[9]

On 7 July 2011 Booth's hotels went into administration.[10] Administrators closed the Wynnstay Arms, the Anchor in Ruthin and The Bridge Hotel, Chester with immediate effect and the funhouses in Mold, Wrexham and Oswestry, as these premises were rented and default on rent payment could not be avoided.[11] All four hotels, which had been trading well, were put up for sale.[12]

Wrexham F.C.

In 2011, Booth announced her intention to take over Wrexham A.F.C., with an interest-free loan to save it from going into financial administration and the plan to raise £5 million to purchase the club in a community-based venture.[13][14]

Death

On the evening of 18 September 2016, Booth was killed in a tractor accident at her smallholding farm on the outskirts of Corwen, Denbighshire. She was aged 70, and survived by her husband, David.[2]

References
  1. "The Story of Stephanie Anne Lloyd". Transformation.co.uk. Archived from the original on 12 November 2013. Retrieved 21 September 2016.
  2. Williams, Kelly (19 September 2016). "Shock as prominent businesswoman Stephanie Booth dies in tractor crash tragedy".
  3. "Transsexual buys string of hotels – and wants to own more". icnorthwales.co.uk. Retrieved 21 September 2016.
  4. Lloyd, Stephanie Anne; Sedgbeer, Sandra (1 January 1991). Stephanie: A Girl in a Million. Ebury Press. ISBN 9780852239278.
  5. "The Story of Stephanie Ann Lloyd – Page7". Transformation.co.uk. Archived from the original on 26 December 2010. Retrieved 26 February 2011.
  6. "The Story of Stephanie Ann Lloyd". Transformation.co.uk. Archived from the original on 26 December 2010. Retrieved 26 February 2011.
  7. "Stephanie's Story". Transsexualclinic.co.uk. Retrieved 21 September 2016.
  8. "Behind the scenes at Hotel Stephanie". BBC Wales. 23 October 2009.
  9. "'Hotel Stephanie' Booth to speak at Tourism Conference". Mid Wales Tourism Board. 13 October 2010. Archived from the original on 22 November 2010.
  10. "Stephanie Booth's Llangollen Hotels in administration". BBC. 7 July 2011.
  11. "bbc wales news 100 job losses". The BBC. 8 July 2011.
  12. "Ruthin hotel closes as crisis hits Stephanie Booth's business chain". Daily Post. 9 July 2011.
  13. "Stephanie Booth outlines Wrexham FC vision". Daily Post. 7 March 2011.
  14. "Wrexham's Supporters Trust backs rival takeover bid". BBC. 7 March 2011.
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