A short summary of some of the hotel/venue stories you may have missed amid all the Christmas excitement.
The Wesley Group opens its second London property at the end of this December. The Wesley Camden Town has 38 boutique-styled bedrooms located in the top four floors of the Camden Methodist Church building located in Plender Street close to Camden Town tube station in central London.
My Bloomsbury Hotel in central London has just completed a full refurbishment and has now been rebranded as the Bedford Corner Hotel, located just off Tottenham Court Road, with 86 new-look bedrooms.
The Bond is a new venue opening in February in Fazeley Street, Digbeth - Birmingham’s Creative Quarter. The Bond is located at the junction of the River Rea and the Grand Union Canal. In the past the building was an Ice Factory, an HP Sauce factory and a bonded warehouse before spending 30 years in dereliction. The Bond comprises five main structures suitable for a range of events including meetings and conferences, screening rooms, pod rooms and a canalside studio with its own wharf. The Bond is located just off the city centre with good access to both Birmingham Moor Street and Birmingham New Street stations.
The proposed plans we reported in our pre-Christmas listing to regenerate Villa Park, home of Aston Villa FC in Birmingham, as a "world-class entertainment venue" have received the green light. We will keep tabs on its progress.
A new Ibis Budget hotel has just opened at Manchester Airport with 262 bedrooms. It is within walking distance of the main terminals and the airport train station.
Joint owners of the Phoenix Hotel in Liverpool have just opened a second venue in the city - Phoenix Pods. The Phoenix Pods is a 32-bedroom site located in a previously derelict factory within walking distance of Liverpool centre and its waterfront.
Plans have been submitted to convert a former Blackpool post office into a new hotel. If plans go ahead the Post Office in Abingdon Street, with its Grade-II listed façade, would also see the addition of a four and five storey extension. The final result would be a 144-bedroom Hotel Indigo and Indigo Suites. We will keep tabs on its progress through the planning stages.
We will be back in the new year with more hotel/meeting venue news. In the meantime, we wish you all a very happy and prosperous New Year.