Stephanie Booth

{{Infobox person | name = | other_names = Stephanie Anne Lloyd | birth_date = 25 May 1946 | birth_place = St Albans, Hertfordshire | death_date = 18 September 2016 | death_place = Corwen, Denbighshire | known_for = Transsexual business owner }}

'''Stephanie Anne Booth''' (25 May 1946 – 18 September 2016), also known as '''Stephanie Anne Lloyd''', was a British transsexual business owner and hotelier, based in Llangollen.<ref name=autogenerated1>{{cite web|url=http://www.transformation.co.uk/en/transgender-resources/true-life-stories/127-the-story-of-stephanie-anne-lloyd?showall=1|title=The Story of Stephanie Anne Lloyd|publisher=Transformation.co.uk|access-date=21 September 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131112062605/http://www.transformation.co.uk/en/transgender-resources/true-life-stories/127-the-story-of-stephanie-anne-lloyd?showall=1|archive-date=12 November 2013}}</ref> She founded the Transformation line of crossdressing stores, opening stores across the UK and abroad. She starred in the reality television series ''Hotel Stephanie'' for BBC Wales in 2008 and 2009.<ref name=":0" />

==Early life== Booth was born on 25 May 1946,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://icnorthwales.icnetwork.co.uk/news/regionalnews/content_objectid=13141488_method=full_siteid=50142_headline=-Transsexual-buys-string-of-hotels---and-wants-to-own-more-name_page.html|title=Transsexual buys string of hotels – and wants to own more|publisher=icnorthwales.co.uk|accessdate=21 September 2016}}</ref> in St Albans, Hertfordshire.<ref name=":3">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zAnaAAAAMAAJ&q=Stephanie%20Anne%20Lloyd%201946|title=Stephanie: A Girl in a Million|first1=Stephanie Anne|last1=Lloyd|first2=Sandra|last2=Sedgbeer|date=1 January 1991|publisher=Ebury Press|isbn=9780852239278}}</ref> Booth had one sister, who was 10 years older than her. Her parents were strict Jehovah's Witnesses who converted just before her 7th birthday.<ref name=autogenerated1/><ref name=":2">{{Cite news |last=Crabtree |first=Diane |date=30 December 1987 |title=All Change |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0005232/19871230/074/0006 |work=Halifax Evening Courier |pages=6}}</ref><ref name=":3" /> As a teenager, Booth found she wasn't attracted to either men or women and hid behind her religion to avoid advances from women.<ref name=":2" /> In a 1988 interview with Ruby Wax, she stated that "I was naturally born with a chromosome disorder, which meant that I was partly female anyway."<ref>Don't Miss Wax, Channel 4 2 February 1988</ref>

==Later life== After finishing secondary school, Booth worked as a laboratory technician, cinema manager, costing clerk and retail chain manager. In 1968, she began dating a woman, and proposed to her 10 days after they'd first met. Three months later, they were married and Booth fathered three children. The couple began to have marital issues, leading Booth's wife to take her to the doctor, who told her she was transsexual.<ref name=":2" /> Booth later divorced her wife in 1981 and began living alone in northwest England. During this time, she began experimenting with wearing women's clothing in the evenings and at weekends.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |last=Spencer |first=Peter |date=6 February 1984 |title=Sex-swap boss: My great journey |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0004985/19840206/003/0003 |work=Manchester Evening News |pages=3}}</ref> She later came out as transgender to her parents, who cut off all contact with her. Her Jehovah's Witnesses congregation also excommunicated her.<ref name=":2" />

Booth began gender reassignment through an NHS specialist psychologist at Wythenshawe Hospital, Manchester. This was followed by surgery in September 1983 at Charing Cross Hospital, London.<ref name="autogenerated1" /> Booth worked as a sales and marketing director at Hestair Hope in 1983, when she underwent electrolysis, breast augmentation, and a rhinoplasty during the Christmas holiday break. She returned to work on 5 January 1984 as a woman with the name Stephanie Anne Lloyd.<ref name=":1" /> News of her transition was leaked to the press.<ref>{{Cite news |date=6 June 1991 |title=Stephanie tells her amazing life story! |url=https://www/britishnewspaperarchive/co/uk/viewer/bl/0003725/19910606/018/0018 |work=Oldham Advertiser |pages=18}}</ref> Initially, Booth told employees and the press that she had caught a tropical disease to which the only cure was to have hormone injections and become a woman, or she would die.<ref name=":1" /> However, the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in London stated "We can't think of a single disease requiring such treatment."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Hughes |first=Gordon |date=7 February 1984 |title=Sex-swap boss sells up |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000560/19840207/013/0003 |work=Daily Mirror |pages=3}}</ref> Booth's employer offered her £20,000 to resign due to the overwhelming tabloid publicity.<ref>{{Cite news |date=16 February 1984 |title=Offered £20,000 |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000525/19840216/001/0001 |work=Staffordshire Sentinel |pages=1}}</ref> She ultimately lost her managerial job and was unable to find a new one.<ref>{{cite web | last=Turner | first=Shannon | title=How We Met: David Booth and Stephanie Anne Lloyd | website=The Independent | date=27 March 1994 | url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/how-we-met-david-booth-and-stephanie-anne-lloyd-1431938.html | access-date=28 July 2024}}</ref>

== Transformation shop and other ventures == In 1984, Booth started ''Transformation'', a clothing and lingerie shop in Manchester that catered to the transgender and transvestite community. In 1985, she was arrested and charged for running a bawdy house in the upstairs section of the shop.<ref>{{Cite news |date=27 March 1985 |title=Stephanie for trial |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0004924/19850327/008/0008 |work=Liverpool Daily Post |pages=8}}</ref> Booth claimed that she had been told a massage service that offered sexual services was legal. She pleaded guilty and was given a 12-month suspended sentence.<ref>{{Cite news |date=3 December 1985 |title=Sex change op man accused |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000769/19851203/002/0002 |work=Coventry Evening Telegraph |pages=2}}</ref> In 1985, she moved in with David Booth, her business partner whom she had met through a newspaper advertisement. David was the owner of the Spar supermarkets chain in the UK.<ref name=":4">{{Cite news |last=Butler |first=Dot |date=21 June 1991 |title=She's a dad called Stephanie |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000641/19910621/068/0010 |work=Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette |pages=10}}</ref> They married in February 1986 in Sri Lanka, as British law at this time didn't recognise such marriages.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Story of Stephanie Ann Lloyd – Page7 |url=http://www.transformation.co.uk/en/transgender-resources/true-life-stories/127-the-story-of-stephanie-anne-lloyd?start=7 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101226233050/http://transformation.co.uk/en/transgender-resources/true-life-stories/127-the-story-of-stephanie-anne-lloyd?start=7 |archive-date=26 December 2010 |access-date=26 February 2011 |publisher=Transformation.co.uk}}</ref><ref name=":2" />

Later business ventures included a transgender mail order catalogue, a phone line that played a recording of her life story,<ref>{{Cite news |date=29 July 1987 |title=Amazing sex change scandal |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0004985/19870729/031/0031 |work=Manchester Evening News |pages=31}}</ref> and TV Scene, a transgender magazine published by TMC Publications.<ref>{{cite web | last=Added | first=Latest | title=Of Souls & Roles, Of Sex & Gender : A Treasury of Transsexual, Transgenderist & Transvestic Verse from 1967 to 1991 | website=Digital Transgender Archive | date=20 May 1994 | url=https://www.digitaltransgenderarchive.net/files/hm50tr87t | access-date=4 January 2026}}</ref> In 1987 Booth opened a transgender hotel on Queen's Road, Oldham.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Gill |first=Kerry |date=22 January 1987 |title=Stephanie's swop shop |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000540/19870122/093/0006 |work=The Scotsman |pages=6}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Panter |first=Steve |date=24 November 1989 |title=Raid man found in his frock! |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0004985/19891124/001/0001 |work=Manchester Evening News |pages=1}}</ref> She later opened Transformation shops in London, Birmingham, Newcastle upon Tyne, Bristol, and Belfast.<ref>{{Cite news |date=19 March 1988 |title=Uproar over city sex shop |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002139/19880319/005/0005 |work=Birmingham Mail |pages=5}}</ref><ref name="TransformSB9">{{cite web |title=The Story of Stephanie Ann Lloyd |url=http://www.transformation.co.uk/en/transgender-resources/true-life-stories/127-the-story-of-stephanie-anne-lloyd?start=9 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101226233333/http://transformation.co.uk/en/transgender-resources/true-life-stories/127-the-story-of-stephanie-anne-lloyd?start=9 |archive-date=26 December 2010 |access-date=26 February 2011 |publisher=Transformation.co.uk}}</ref><ref name=":4" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=9 September 1992 |title=Sex-swap woman opens dress shop for men only |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0004974/19920909/005/0005 |work=Western Daily Press |pages=5}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=4 October 1993 |title=Transsexual Stephanie sets sights on Dublin |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0005119/19931004/015/0003 |work=Belfast News-Letter |pages=3}}</ref> In March 1998 she also opened a branch in Berlin.<ref>{{Cite news |date=26 March 1998 |title=New transformation shop |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0004985/19980326/017/0017 |work=Manchester Evening News |pages=17}}</ref>

Booth was featured on a ITV Granada in May 1998<ref>{{Cite news |date=26 May 1988 |title=Sex change stephanie |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0004985/19880526/064/0064 |work=Manchester Evening News |pages=64}}</ref> and later that year announced the opening of ''Stephanie Anne Investments Ltd''. The company was based in Manchester and offered transgender people employment support and investment advice.<ref>{{Cite news |date=14 December 1988 |title=Sex swap boss offers change of fortune |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000641/19881214/518/0009 |work=Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette |pages=9}}</ref> They also expanded their mail order business to cover mainland Europe and the United States.<ref name="autogenerated1" />

Booth joined Lancashire County Cricket Club in January 1989, during a time when the club only allowed men to become full members. Booth was able to join as her birth certificate still listed her as male. The club decided to hold to a vote on opening full membership open to women at their yearly AGM, where Booth addressed those attending and appealed to them to support the motion.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Prince |first=John |date=9 December 1989 |title=Ladies beat cricket ban |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0004985/19891209/001/0001 |work=Manchester Evening News |pages=1}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Watson |first=Janine |date=11 December 1989 |title=Birds eye view for Old Trafford's new maidens |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0004985/19891211/013/0013 |work=Manchester Evening News |pages=13}}</ref> In 1990 she moved to Llangar with her husband.<ref name=":5">{{Cite news |last=Jones |first=Dave |title=Steph to launch transvestite TV |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0004927/19931015/001/0001 |work=Vale Advertiser |pages=1}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=17 December 1993 |title=Magic moments |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0004927/19931217/013/0013 |work=Vale Advertiser |pages=13}}</ref>

=== Jail sentence === On 23 November 1991 Booth was sentenced to a 12-month jail sentence after pleading guilty to selling obscene videos. She was sentenced alongside one of her business partners, Raiko Ristic, and both were individually fined £3000. Booth claimed she had not viewed the offending tapes but had sold them after Ristic had watched them and wrote up an outline of the contents. The policed seized more than 5000 videos in a series of raids across 9 sites linked to Booth.<ref>{{Cite news |date=23 November 1991 |title=Sex change shop boss jailed |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0004924/19911123/004/0004 |work=Liverpool Daily Post |pages=4}}</ref> Booth's psychiatrist recommended that she be housed in a female prison after Booth experienced abuse during her initial stay at HM Prison Risley.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Nott |first=Andrew |date=23 November 1991 |title=Steph's sex swap prison dread |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0004985/19911123/001/0001 |work=Manchester Evening News |pages=1}}</ref> The Home Office ultimately decided she should serve her term at HM Prison Askham Grange, a women's prison.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Johnston |first=Carl |date=26 November 1991 |title=Jailed Steph just one of the girls |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0004985/19911126/007/0007 |work=Manchester Evening News |pages=7}}</ref> Booth appealed her sentence and the courts agreed that it was too harsh. As a result she was released early in February 1997, having served just over three months.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Spinks |first=Simon |date=3 February 1992 |title=Sex-op Stephanie freed from prison |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0004985/19920203/005/0005 |work=Manchester Evening News |pages=5}}</ref>

=== Albany Gender Clinic === In 1992, Booth founded the ''Albany Gender Identity Clinic'' as a centre for transsexuals to seek specialist medical advice and guidance on their condition.<ref>{{cite web |title=Stephanie's Story |url=http://www.transsexualclinic.co.uk/features/stephanie |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130514005120/http://www.transsexualclinic.co.uk/features/stephanie/ |archive-date=14 May 2013 |accessdate=21 September 2016 |publisher=Transsexualclinic.co.uk}}</ref> The clinic was located in Manchester and doctors offered counselling and referrals to Charing Cross Hospital for gender reassignment surgery.<ref name=":2" />

In March 1992 Booth was targeted by blackmailers who threatened to kill her and petrol bomb her chain of Transformation stores across the UK. The blackmailers demanded £150,000 in cash and a prearranged drop site 200 miles away from Manchester was arranged. Booth called the police, who monitored the drop and gave chase when two men in their 30s collected the money.<ref>{{Cite news |date=27 March 1992 |title=Sex change blackmail |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000726/19920327/001/0001 |work=Newcastle Evening Chronicle |pages=1}}</ref> The incident ended when the police rammed the suspects' car and the men were arrested.<ref>{{Cite news |date=28 March 1992 |title=Sex-change Stephanie tells of £150,000 blackmail |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0004974/19920328/010/0010 |work=Western Daily Press |pages=10}}</ref> Magistrates decided to drop the case against the suspects in 20 August 1992.<ref>{{Cite news |date=20 August 1992 |title=Accused men's cases discharged |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk.idm.oclc.org/viewer/bl/0005375/19920820/224/0026 |work=Blyth News Post Leader |pages=26}}</ref>

In October 1993 Booth announced she had invested £500,000 in launching a TV station catering specifically to cross-dressers and transgender people. The station was to be called Transformation, after Booth's chain of shops, and was due to be launched either on the 18 or 25 of December 1993.{{Note|Later sources used the 18 December as the launch date}} The channel would be broadcast from Berlin and would be free to view for a six-week period, before introducing a weekly pay-per-view system.<ref name=":6">{{Cite news |last=Devlin |first=Martina |date=12 October 1993 |title=Satellite sex change |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0005119/19931012/078/0011 |work=Belfast News-Letter |pages=11}}</ref> The announcement was controversial, as it was believed that uncensored pornographic films would be aired.<ref>{{Cite news |date=12 October 1993 |title=Transvestites to get a TV channel for Christmas |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000687/19931012/043/0003 |work=Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer |pages=3}}</ref><ref name=":6" /> Brendan McGahon and Lady Olga Maitland publicly spoke out about the channel, calling for it to be banned.<ref name=":5" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=4 October 1993 |title=All-sex TV station here by Christmas |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001730/19931014/071/0010 |work=Evening Herald (Dublin) |pages=10}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=17 October 1993 |title=TV bluster about fellas in frocks... |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002341/19931017/244/0042 |work=Sunday Life |pages=42}}</ref> Peter Brooke, who was Secretary of State for National Heritage at the time, discussed the matter in Parliament, warning that anyone airing pornographic material would face potential penalties.<ref>{{Cite web |title=House of Commons Hansard Debates for 1 Nov 1993 |url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199293/cmhansrd/1993-11-01/Writtens-3.html |access-date=2026-01-16 |website=publications.parliament.uk}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2 November 1993 |title=Gender bender TV on the way |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003126/19931102/141/0012 |work=Wolverhampton Express and Star |pages=12}}</ref> Booth obtained a broadcast licence for the channel on 23 October 1994, called TV for TVs.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Gardiner |first=Emma |date=23 October 1994 |title=Sex-swap star plans TV for TVs |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0004928/19941023/006/0006 |work=Wales on Sunday |pages=6}}</ref> Booth became one of the earliest trans filmmakers to produce porn directed at the trans community, along with artists like Mirha-Soleil Ross, Christopher Lee, Buck Angel, and Cary Cronenwett.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Steinbock |first=Eliza |date=2014-05-01 |title=Pornography |url=https://read.dukeupress.edu/tsq/article/1/1-2/156/91737/Pornography |journal=TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly |language=en |volume=1 |issue=1-2 |pages=156 |doi=10.1215/23289252-2399893 |issn=2328-9252}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Horak |first=Laura |date=2020-05-01 |title=Curating Trans Erotic Imaginaries |url=https://doi.org/10.1215/23289252-8143477 |journal=TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly |volume=7 |issue=2 |pages=274 |doi=10.1215/23289252-8143477 |issn=2328-9252|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

=== Llangollen Hotels & Hotel Stephanie === thumb|The Myddelton Arms which Booth purchased in 2003 In 2003 Booth had bought a series of five hotels in Ruthin. This included the Myddleton Arms and the adjoining Castle Hotel, Bodidris Hall, Plough Hotel, Anchor Hotel, and the Clwyd Gate Restaurant.<ref name=":9" /> Booth explained that she became a hotelier "by accident" after finding out that the owner of Bodidris Hall was planning to sell.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2010-04-15 |title=Multi-millionaire leisure boss takes over town centre hotel |url=https://www.leaderlive.co.uk/news/15962325.multi-millionaire-leisure-boss-takes-over-town-centre-hotel/ |access-date=2026-01-20 |website=The Leader |language=en}}</ref> Booth offered lesbian and gay weddings at her venues, as well as offering transexuals the chance to stay at Bodidris Hall for crossdressing weekends.<ref name=":9">{{Cite web |last=Live |first=North Wales |date=2003-07-03 |title=Transsexual buys string of hotels - and wants to own more |url=https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/transsexual-buys-string-hotels---2940640 |access-date=2026-01-16 |website=North Wales Live |language=en}}</ref> The hotels were managed under the name Llangollen Hotels Limited.<ref name=":7">{{Cite web |last=Administrator |first=walesonline |date=2013-03-21 |title=Ruthin hotel closes as crisis hits Stephanie Booth’s business chain |url=http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/local-news/ruthin-hotel-closes-crisis-hits-1820457 |access-date=2026-01-16 |website=Wales Online |language=en}}</ref>

In 2008, Mentorn Cymru began production of reality television series ''Hotel Stephanie'' for BBC Wales.<ref name="BBCWales8322299">{{cite news |date=23 October 2009 |title=Behind the scenes at Hotel Stephanie |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/local/northeastwales/hi/tv_and_radio/newsid_8322000/8322299.stm |publisher=BBC Wales}}</ref> 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' 2010 takeover and refurbishment of The Wynnstay Arms hotel in Wrexham.<ref>{{cite web |date=13 October 2010 |title='Hotel Stephanie' Booth to speak at Tourism Conference |url=http://www.welshcountry.co.uk/news-from-around-wales/81-powys/8088-hotel-stephanie-booth-to-speak-at-tourism-conference- |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101122072638/http://www.welshcountry.co.uk/news-from-around-wales/81-powys/8088-hotel-stephanie-booth-to-speak-at-tourism-conference- |archive-date=22 November 2010 |publisher=Mid Wales Tourism Board}}</ref><ref name=":10">{{Cite news |date=2012-04-19 |title=Wynnstay Arms Hotel, Wrexham, due to reopen |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-east-wales-17766740 |access-date=2026-01-20 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}}</ref>

Booth publicly claimed that she planned to invest £1 million in the Wynnstay Arms in the first year of ownership.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2010-04-15 |title=Historic hotel revamp after sale |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/north_east/8622479.stm |access-date=2026-01-20 |language=en-GB}}</ref> When she ran the hotel, Booth also organised street festivals and fun days in Wrexham, shutting off the street to allow the events to be held outside.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bagnall |first=Steve |date=2016-09-19 |title=Tributes pour in for 'charismatic' and 'lovely' businesswoman Stephanie Booth |url=http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/stephanie-booth-tributes-pour-charismatic-11908752 |access-date=2026-01-20 |website=North Wales Live |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2010-09-14 |title=Hotel Stephanie makes a return |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/northeastwales/hi/tv_and_radio/newsid_8995000/8995220.stm |access-date=2026-01-20 |language=en-GB}}</ref>

On 7 July 2011, Booth's hotels went into financial administration.<ref name=":8">{{cite web |date=7 July 2011 |title=Stephanie Booth's Llangollen Hotels in administration |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-east-wales-14066043 |publisher=BBC}}</ref> The Wynnstay Arms was closed before administrators were appointed.<ref name=":10" /> In March 2013 The Anchor Hotel and the Chester Bridge Hotel closed alongside her three soft playgrounds following the appointment of the administrators. It was reported that Booth's businesses expanded rapidly but failed to keep up with debt repayments.<ref name=":7" /><ref>{{cite web |date=8 July 2011 |title=bbc wales news 100 job losses |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-east-wales-14084390 |publisher=The BBC}}</ref> Four other hotels, which had been trading well, were put up for sale.<ref>{{cite web |date=9 July 2011 |title=Ruthin hotel closes as crisis hits Stephanie Booth's business chain |url=http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/2011/07/09/ruthin-hotel-closes-as-crisis-hits-stephanie-booth-s-business-chain-55578-29021047 |work=Daily Post}}</ref> Booth claimed that she would ensure that all staff were paid using her own funds.<ref name=":8" />

In September 2013, Booth's final hotel, the Ye Olde Anchor Inn in Ruthin, was sold. The hotel had been closed since 2012. Booth said she planned to focus on her international businesses and the Yatter Yatter magazine.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Stephanie Booth exits hotel trade with sale of Ye Olde Anchor Inn |url=https://www.thecaterer.com/news/stephanie-booth-exits-hotel-trade-with-sale-of-ye-olde-anchor-inn |access-date=2026-01-20 |website=The Caterer |language=En}}</ref>

===Wrexham A.F.C.=== In 2011, Booth announced her intention to take over Wrexham A.F.C. with an interest-free loan to save the club from entering financial administration, along with a plan to raise £5 million to purchase the club through a community-based venture.<ref>{{cite news|title=Stephanie Booth outlines Wrexham FC vision|work=Daily Post|date=7 March 2011|url=http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/2011/03/07/stephanie-booth-outlines-wrexham-fc-vision-55578-28289229/}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Wrexham's Supporters Trust backs rival takeover bid|publisher=BBC|date=7 March 2011|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-east-wales-12663355}}</ref> In May she announced that she was withdrawing her attempt to buy the club following death threats.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2011-05-11 |title=Stephanie Booth withdraws from Wrexham FC bid |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-east-wales-13357998 |access-date=2026-01-16 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}}</ref>

===Yattar Yattar=== Booth published a lifestyle magazine called Yattar Yattar that focused on North and Mid-Wales, Cheshire, and Shropshire.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2016-09-19 |title=Tractor death woman was entrepreneur Stephanie Booth |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-east-wales-37409023 |access-date=2026-01-16 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}}</ref> Yattar Yattar was distributed free through newsagents and supermarkets.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Williams |first=Kelly |date=2016-09-23 |title=Stephanie Booth's magazine to close following death of 'one-off' entrepreneur |url=http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/stephanie-booths-lifestyle-magazine-close-11928752 |access-date=2026-01-16 |website=North Wales Live |language=en}}</ref> The magazine closed following her death in September 2016.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Founding editor's tractor death causes closure of Yattar Yattar - Journalism News from HoldtheFrontPage |url=https://www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk/2016/news/regional-magazine-closes-after-founding-editor-dies-in-tractor-crash/ |access-date=2026-01-16 |website=HoldtheFrontPage |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Yattar Yattar Magazine March/April 2016 |url=https://yattaryattar.co.uk/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160924011801/https://yattaryattar.co.uk/ |archive-date=2016-09-24 |access-date=2026-01-16 |website=yattaryattar.co.uk |language=en-gb}}</ref>

== Autobiographies == Booth's first short autobiography, ''The official autobiography of Sex-Change Stephanie Anne Lloyd'', was published in 1990 by TMC Publishing Ltd.<ref>WorldCat: [https://www.worldcat.org/title/1011450012 The official autobiography of sex-change Stephanie Anne Lloyd]</ref>

Her second autobiography, ''Stephanie: A Girl in a Million,'' co-written with Sandra Sedgbeer, was published in 1991 by Ebury Press.<ref>WorldCat: [https://www.worldcat.org/title/22764154 Stephanie]</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=19 June 1991 |title=Total Transformation |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/BL/0003636/19910619/027/0027 |work=Stockport Express Advertiser |pages=23-24}}</ref> The Dutch translation was released in 1993,<ref>WorldCat: [https://www.worldcat.org/title/22764154 Stephanie : ik ben een bijzondere vrouw]</ref> and the Czech translation followed in 1994.<ref>WorldCat: [https://www.worldcat.org/title/39599495 Stephanie. Z muže ženou : autobiografie transsexuála]</ref>

==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,<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/shock-stephanie-booth-dies-tractor-11906984|title=Shock as prominent businesswoman Stephanie Booth dies in tractor crash tragedy|last=Williams|first=Kelly|date=19 September 2016}}</ref> along with his children Lisa and Dawn and her grandchildren: Andrew, Mathew, Grace, Rachel and Joseph.

==References== {{Reflist|30em}}

== External links == * [https://www.transformation.co.uk/pages/stephanie-s-story#chapter_0 Stephanie's Story], online autobiography, updated in 2014

{{DEFAULTSORT:Booth, Stephanie}} Category:1946 births Category:2016 deaths Category:People from St Albans Category:People from Llangollen Category:British hoteliers Category:Transgender businesspeople Category:English transgender women Category:English LGBTQ businesspeople Category:English LGBTQ rights activists Category:Road incident deaths in Wales Category:Sex industry in Wales Category:20th-century English businesswomen Category:20th-century English businesspeople Category:21st-century English businesswomen Category:21st-century English businesspeople Category:British women civil rights activists