Orient-Express Hotels has sold its 49 per cent interest in Harry’s Bar, in Mayfair, London, for £5.1m to its partner in the business, Mark Birley Holdings.

Mark Birley and James Sherwood, chair of Orient-Express Hotels, said: “The negotiations and conclusion of the arrangements to end the long and profitable relationship had been very amicable.”

Harry’s Bar was established in 1979 by Mark Birley and Hotel Cipriani, a subsidiary of Orient-Express, as a private dining club.

A spokesperson for Orient-Express Hotels said: “The board felt the club is such a personal business that ultimate ownership would be more appropriate in the hands of the Birley family.”