George Demetriou sadly passes away
George Demetriou sadly passed awayon Sunday 10th May, aged 82, leaves wife Sylvia, children Dino, Maritza and Zoë, grandchildren Alex, Costandia, Olivia and Georgio. Brothers and sisters Helen, Dimitri, Eva, Kaliope, Andonis and Chloe.
George Costa Demetriou was born in the village of Ayias Vavatsinia and after finishing elementary School he went onto work in his Tonys restaurant called Night Bird in Larnaca while at college.where he received a bursary from Archbishop Makarios for his college fees and then came to England from Cyprus in 1957 when he was just 19 to work for a family friend in his coffee bar in Halifax.
By 1960, he had saved enough money to open his own coffee shop in Wakefield and married his wife Sylvia in 1962.. Within a couple of years he opened his first restaurant, the Steak House. The Steak House must have quickly made an impression, because Helen Shapiro came to sing at it shortly afterwards, accompanied by her support act, a group going by the name of the Beatles! He went on to open more coffee shops across the county and beyond, including Huddersfield, York, Lincoln, Derby, Barnsley, Bradford, Castleford and Leeds.
In 1978 Mr Demetriou purchased a plot of land next to the M1 in Wakefield with the intention to build a hotel. He was approached by yarn company Sirdar to offer a 50/50 partnership to build the hotel and in March 1985 Cedar Court Hotel Wakefield opened its doors.
Between 1993 and 2001 he added three further hotels in Bradford, Huddersfield and Harrogate.
Mr Demetriou’s proudest project was the creation of Cedar Court Grand Hotel & Spa in York, which became Yorkshire’s only five-star hotel when it opened in 2010.
After moving into the hotel business, the restaurants and coffee shops were gradually sold off – with the proceeds used to build up an impressive property portfolio in York, Wakefield and Huddersfield.
George always loved to travel home to Cyprus where he was happy tending to his land and picking olives from his trees, as well as visiting his many relatives. After his retirement in 2012 he liked to travel with his family and visited many places including the Caribbean, Las Vegas, Egypt and most recently China, where he walked on the Great Wall and saw the Terracotta Army.
He was a keen supporter of Leeds United attending matches when he could and was even at the infamous European Cup final in Paris 1975. He also loved to watch snooker and played it on his snooker table at home.
After he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, George’s business interests were gradually sold with the final deal being concluded in late 2017.
Parikiaki extend their condolences to the family.
