Industry news for the Hotel and Conference business

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Mercure Leeds Centre opens September

Mercure Leeds Centre opens September

Mercure Leeds Centre is set to open this...

Indigo coming to Chester

Indigo coming to Chester

Construction has started on the new...

Dalata plan new Manchester Hotel

Dalata plan new Manchester Hotel

Dalata Hotel Group is planning to open a new...

Dalata plan new London Hotel

Dalata plan new London Hotel

Dalata Hotel Group will be the operators of a...

New Hotel opens in Glasgow

New Hotel opens in Glasgow

  A new hotel has just opened in...

  • Mercure Leeds Centre opens September

    Mercure Leeds Centre opens September

  • Indigo coming to Chester

    Indigo coming to Chester

  • Dalata plan new Manchester Hotel

    Dalata plan new Manchester Hotel

  • Dalata plan new London Hotel

    Dalata plan new London Hotel

  • New Hotel opens in Glasgow

    New Hotel opens in Glasgow


The £25million redevelopment of Blackburn's Cathedral Quarter in Lancashire has just begun. The development will include a Covent Garden-style ‘festival square’. The first phase of the development comprises a new six storey office building; a 60 bedroom Premier Inn hotel and car park plus a library, apartments and townhouses.

Building of the first phase is expected to commence early September 2014 with construction complete by the end of the year.

The £25million redevelopment of Blackburn's Cathedral Quarter in Lancashire has just begun. The development will include a Covent Garden-style ‘festival square’. The first phase of the development comprises a new six storey office building; a 60 bedroom Premier Inn hotel and car park plus a library, apartments and townhouses.

Building of the first phase is expected to commence early September 2014 with construction complete by the end of the year.


Aston Tavern is the latest hotel to open in Birmingham. Aston Tavern is a restored historic pub in the shadow of Villa Park football stadium in inner-city Birmingham. Aston Tavern, which had lain derelict for two decades prior to its rescue, opens at the end of August 2014 to coincide with Aston Villa's first home match of the football season. It will open on match days only for next few weeks ahead of a full opening in October.

Aston Tavern features 13 bedrooms, self-contained flats, a one-acre beer garden, an outdoor bar, a bandstand, a restaurant and a Victorian tea room.

Aston Tavern will also service Aston Advanced Manufacturing Hub, an official regional investment site which is being developed over the next few years.

Aston Tavern is located a short drive off the M6 / Aston Expressway close to Spaghetti Junction (M6J6) in Birmingham.


The Coach House at Middleton Lodge is a new country-house hotel opening early October 2014 in North Yorkshire. The hotel, a former Georgian coaching house, is currently undergoing a £2million redevelopment. The Coach House at Middleton Lodge will include nine individually styled luxury bedrooms some with woodland views and others with garden views. The development includes The Coach House Restaurant which will be offering estate-to-plate dining once the restored kitchen gardens are complete in 2015. Leisure options are primarily croquet on the lawn. The hotel and its facilities, which include free wi-fi, plus the grounds will available for private corporate hire.

Middleton Lodge sits in 200 acres of grounds overlooking the North Yorkshire Moors close to the A1 near Richmond.

Details:  www.middletonlodge.co.uk


Royal Yacht Britannia Trust has just acquired the lightship vessel MV Windsor Castle with plans to convert it into a 25 bedroom luxury 'boatique' hotel. She will be berthed permanently adjacent to the Britannia in Edinburgh's historic port of Leith.

Launched in August 1963, she was the last ship built by the Blythswood Shipbuilding Company in Glasgow and was previously the Northern Lighthouse Board's (NLB) tender Fingal. She was Leith registered but spent most of her NLB service working out of Oban for 30 years, followed by her last 6 years, based in Stromness, Orkney. At 239 feet long, she is nearly two-thirds of the size of Britannia.

MV Windsor Castle is scheduled to arrive in Leith at the end of August. She will then undergo an 18 month conversion and is scheduled to open as a hotel in Spring 2016.

Details: www.royalyachtbritannia.co.uk


The former magistrates’ court and police station in Old Street in central London is currently being redeveloped into a 128-bedroom boutique hotel. It will include a gym, a swimming pool, a two-lane bowling alley, a 200-seat cinema and a rooftop bar. The existing building with the addition of a new-build bedroom block will include 600 sq-mt of basement event space. The hotel will probably be named the Old Street Courthouse Hotel.

The Grade II-listed Victorian courthouse is located opposite the former Shoreditch Town Hall in Old Street. It closed in 1999 although the police station stayed open until 2008. More recently the building had been occupied by squatters.
The work is being undertaken by McAleer & Rush who have published a blog featuring the development

Details:  www.mcaleer-rushe.co.uk