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County Hotel completes refurbishment
The County Hotel opposite Central Station in Newcastle on Tyne has just completed a £3.1million refurbishment programme.
All existing 114 bedrooms at the County Hotel have been refurbished. 19 new bedrooms and 18 apartments have also been created in an adjoining extension to the main hotel building.
Refurbishment of the hotel’s events and meeting rooms was completed last autumn. The County Hotel has restaurant and bar plus eight meeting rooms with the largest accommodating up to 220 delegates theatre style.
The County Hotel dates back to 1874 and is one of Newcastle’s original hotels. It is now part of the Gainford Group, a company which owns five other hotels including the Vermont and New Bridge hotels in Newcastle city centre.
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Plans for two new hotels in Salford Quays
Plans for a new 'Cotton Quay' district in Salford Quays, Greater Manchester, have just been approved
Cotton Quay will be a new neighbourhood with 1,500 homes, two hotels plus a lido and floating gardens. It will also feature a climbing wall and a rooftop park - all approved and to be constructed in Salford Quays.
Cotton Quay will also include space for retail outlets.
One of the hotels is planned to sit at the end of the pier which developers hope will become a ‘landmark waterfront hotel’.
Currently, the space is taken up by two small commercial buildings and a car park. The developers maintain that the space is currently under-utilised. The development would be well served by Manchester’s Metrolink light rail system.
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Discover meeting space at DBS
With hotels closing down at least temporarily to combat the coronavirus threat there is very little in the way of new venues planning to open or new developments on which to report.
Perhaps instead we could draw your attention to three little-known venues in the East Midlands that offer good quality meeting space and training rooms.
DBS centres are based in Castle Donington, Glenfield and Ashby de la Zouch within easy access of Derby, Leicester, Nottingham and Burton.
Castle Donington, the largest, has a main conference room to accommodate up to 40 delegates theatre style, an executive boardroom to seat ten and two small meeting rooms seating six and four delegates respectively. Glenfield has one meeting room accommodating 22 delegates boardroom style. Ashby de la Zouch offers a range of individual and interconnected office suites.
DBS hire packages are flexible and space can be hired by the hour, half day or full day.
All the meeting rooms are fully furnished, with wi-fi access and telecoms. Whiteboards, flip chart, paper and pens are provided. Larger rooms also have LCD screens with connectors.
Refreshments can be provided, with hot and cold food available for breakfast meetings, lunch and afternoon tea.
All three sites offer free, secure, on-site parking.
DBS also offer serviced offices, co-working office space, virtual offices and a business mailing address.
DBS Castle Donington business centre is located in the centre of town a few miles from East Midlands airport.
DBS Glenfield is close to Leicester city centre with good access to the motorway network.
DBS Ashby de la Zouch is located in the town centre.
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New Hotel planned at NEC
Plans have just been submitted for a new hotel near the NEC in Birmingham.
The new hotel would be a Hampton by Hilton with 203 bedrooms. It would be built in the car park of the Hilton Metropole Hotel at the NEC.
A new multi-storey car park is also part of the scheme.
If approved by Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council, the multi-storey car park would have 452 spaces, bolstering facilities on offer at the NEC.
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Wetherspoon's hotel and museum plans approved in Wolverhampton
A multi-million-pound plan to transform a Wetherspoon's pub in Wolverhampton into a museum and hotel has been approved.
The pub is ‘The Moon Under Water’ located in Lichfield Street in the centre of Wolverhampton.
The ground floor will remain a pub. The upper floors which have been out of use since 2006 are in poor condition. They will be revamped with an additional floor created. Together the building will be converted into a Heritage Centre and a 90-bedroom hotel.
Wetherspoons had originally been granted permission for the scheme in 2018 but they expanded their plans to include an extra floor – hence the delay.
The Moon Under Water is a popular city centre pub. It sits opposite the Grand Theatre in Lichfield Street.
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Hotelier protecting jobs
The following story has appeared in the North West Business Insider Magazine. In these days of what appears to be nothing but bad news and coronavirus we thought a good new story might cheer you up:
“A North West hotelier has secured jobs and is helping to support its community during the coronavirus shutdown after securing a five-figure finance package from Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking.
Walker & Williams, which owns and operates four boutique five-star aparthotels in the North West, will use the funding to support cashflow and help protect 50 roles across Preston, Chester and Ormskirk.
The company, which has remained opened to cater to a small number of guests including service personnel, visiting Ministry of Defence staff and a family that recently lost its home to fire, has also taken the quieter period as an opportunity to give back to its local community.
The hotelier has launched a dedicated service from its Preston headquarters to help vulnerable or elderly people who are unable to leave the house during the coronavirus crisis.
Founder and director Max Walker-Williams said: "Walker & Williams is a family which means that, no matter how long this goes on for, we are not willing to let a single member of our team go. While the hotels are quiet, we've been able to shift our focus and help support our local community.”