The Devon hotel which inspired the classic BBC sitcom Fawlty Towers has been sold for about £1.5m.
Cleese based the series on the Gleneagles Hotel's owner
Show creator John Cleese based the character of Basil Fawlty on Donald Sinclair, a former owner of the Hotel Gleneagles, in Torquay.
Husband and wife Panna and Kumar Patel have bought Gleneagles with Mr Patel's brother Keethri.
The family, who own two supermarkets and a pub in Bristol, say they are "big fans" of the comedy.
In March councillors rejected plans to knock down the three-star hotel to make way for 25 luxury flats.
The hotel has 41 en-suite bedrooms and a pool
Cleese, who stayed at the hotel with the Monty Python team in 1971, described Mr Sinclair as "the most wonderfully rude man I have ever met".
Mr 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.
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."
The final sale price of the hotel, which has 41 bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms, a heated outdoor pool, jacuzzi and solarium, has not been disclosed.
Fawlty Towers has proved to be one of the most enduring sitcoms in TV history.
Despite only running for 12 episodes, it regularly tops polls of favourite TV shows.