Cleese, who stayed at the hotel with the Monty Python team in 1971, described Sinclair as "the most wonderfully rude man I have ever met". Cleese based the character of Basil Fawlty on Donald Sinclair, a former owner.
Sinclair, who died in 1981, is said to have thrown Eric Idle's suitcase out of the window "in case it contained a bomb" and complained about Terry Gilliam's table manners.
Panna and Kumar Patel, who bought the hotel with Mr Patel's brother Keethri, also own two supermarkets and a pub in Bristol. The new owners are a family from Bristol who say they are "big fans" of the comedy, which ran for 12 episodes between 1975 and 1979. Mrs Patel said: "We were big fans of the Fawlty Towers programme so we believe that it will prove to be a sound investment to have bought one of the best-known hotels in the UK."
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