We begin this latest roundup of new venue news in the north-east. Our first stop is at Durham County Cricket Club which has submitted ambitious plans to build a new 152-bedroom hotel at its ground in Chester-le-Street. The hotel would feature a bar-lounge, meeting rooms and a restaurant overlook the pitch. We will monitor its progress.
Heading further north to Newcastle -on -Tyne. Here a major £2million refurbishment package is currently underway upgrading the bedrooms, meeting rooms and restaurant at the Hotel Indigo Newcastle in the city centre – a two-minute walk from Central station. It is expected to complete this Spring. The hotel currently has 148 bedrooms, a restaurant, fitness suite and one meeting room.
Meanwhile, Dakota Newcastle will be the group’s sixth UK hotel when it opens spring 2025. It will open with 118 bedrooms in St Anne’s Wharf, overlooking the River Tyne. The hotel will include a ground floor Bar and Grill. Further details to follow but interestingly the new hotel will be just across the river from the proposed new major conference centre and indoor events arena at Gateshead Quays. Dakota currently operates hotels in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Motherwell, Leeds and Manchester.
Staying in Newcastle, Bespoke Hotels have planning permission to extend its Hotel Gotham Newcastle. The extension will open in a former five-storey fire station building with 60-bedroom hotel and a restaurant in winter 2024. A further 30-bedroom extension is also planned to open the following winter.
Plans have been submitted for a new events venue and spa at the historic, Grade II-listed Hotham Hall Estate in the East Riding of Yorkshire. Plans outline a change of use for the former stable block on the estate to create an events venue with guest accommodation plus a spa facility in the estate grounds.
Across the Pennines - INNsIDE by Melia Manchester has just opened its new D'Acampo Manchester restaurant and bar with its own private entrance on First Street in central Manchester.
Northcote Manor Hotel in Lancashire’s Ribble Valley has secured planning permission to build a new stand-alone 48-cover fine dining restaurant in its grounds. The hotel is also planning to add extra hotel bedrooms plus a spa.
Down to the Midlands where Merlin Entertainments is set to open a new hotel in the grounds of Warwick Castle this July. The hotel, built on a former car park, will include 60 bedrooms each designed to create an immersive experience for guests with ‘talking’ historic portraits and bedrooms featuring the Wars of the Roses.
In Northern Ireland - A new 74-bedroom hotel on the site of a former police station in Queen Street, Belfast city centre is set to go ahead. The building dates from 1878 and originally opened as the Belfast Hospital for Sick Children.
The Dunluce Lodge is a new build, 35 bedroom, five-star luxury hotel and spa opening at the Royal Portrush Golf Club in County Antrim, Northern Ireland this coming autumn, just ahead of the Open Championship which the club will be hosting next year. The hotel will have 35 bedrooms and is set on the edge of the course’s fourth fairway overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. It will have a restaurant and bar plus a small, but intimate spa with a fitness facility.
In Wales - The Inn Collection is planning a multi-million pound refurbishment of the Swallow Falls Hotel in Betws-y-Coed. It will include adding a new pub and restaurant, modernizing the hotel’s 38 bedrooms and adding new ones. The 38 camping pitches at this former Youth Hostel Association building will be retained and enhanced.
In Scotland - The Innovation Hub at MSIP is a new meeting and events venue which opened last November in Dundee. It includes two main events spaces each seating up to 90 delegates plus eight meeting rooms, co-working spaces and a café. It is located on Michelin Scotland Innovation Parc in Dundee.
The former Macdonald Holyrood Hotel has just relaunched as Edinburgh Marriott Hotel Holyrood, following completion of a £10million refurbishment. The hotel has 160 bedrooms and suites, restaurants and bars, a spa and fitness centre with an indoor pool plus extensive meeting and events facilities. It is located in Edinburgh’s historic old town.
Radisson are planning to open their first Radisson Hotel & Serviced Apartments in Glasgow with an opening date scheduled for 2027. The hotel will feature a mix of standard and luxury apartments, a restaurant, a rooftop bar, a gym and meeting spaces. It will be located in Maxwell Street within walking distance of Glasgow Central station.
Finally to London:
Lifestyle aparthotel brand, Native Places, is set to open a new Native hotel in London’s Fulham. Scheduled to open in 2025, Native Fulham Broadway will be the group’s eighth aparthotel and it’s fifth in London. It will include 41 studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments. The group is also planning a major refurbishment of its property in Glasgow.
A Spring 2024 opening is planned for the new Mandarin Oriental Mayfair in London. It will have 50 guestrooms and 77 private residences, a restaurant with an award-winning chef plus a signature Spa complete with an indoor 25-metre heated swimming pool, sauna, vitality pools, experience showers and steam rooms and a state-of-the-art gym. You will find it in Hanover Square.
Motel One group is opening two new hotels in London later this year. Motel One Old Street will have 237 bedrooms and Motel One Hyde Park will have197 bedrooms. They are set to join Motel One’s only other London property at Tower Hill.
Miiro is a new lifestyle hotel brand. It is planning open Templeton Garden in London's Earl's Court next year. It will be the group’s first UK property.
Mason & Fifth Primrose Hill is a new guesthouse opening in London in April. It is set across four 1860s Regency townhouses now converted into 61 luxury studio apartments each featuring a top of the range kitchen. The guesthouse also includes communal spaces plus a yoga pavilion. Primrose Hill is the group’s second site in London, following its launch in Bermondsey.
It has been all over the news recently but in case you missed it: Telecoms giant, BT Group, has agreed to sell BT Tower in London to MCR Hotels, who plan to create a luxury hotel with events space whilst preserving BT Tower as a famous landmark.
Finally, If you just happen to have around £800million ‘burning a hole in your pocket’, The Village Hotel Group is about to go on sale through an American private equity fund, if you are interested. The group operates 33 hotels with 4,000+ hotel bedrooms, restaurants, bars plus meeting and leisure facilities.
Enjoy March.