A growing North East hospitality group is creating new jobs after unveiling its latest hotel in the Lake District.
The Inn Collection Group embarked on the acquisition trail after being given a £10m funding boost by investors OakNorth, to fuel the group’s plans to more than double the size of its portfolio to 21 inns.
The Newcastle-based group already had hotels within the North East, in Alnwick, Seahouses, Holy Island, Blyth, Durham, Seaton and Newton-Under-Roseberry, but sought to expand outside the region.
It has now four hotels in the Lakes, having made a number of recent acquisitions including The Ambleside Inn at Ambleside, The Swan in Grasmere and The Pheasant at Bassenthwaite.
Its first acquisition outside the North East was the Waterhead Hotel at Coniston around two years ago.
The group has just completed an extensive makeover of the property to transform it into a luxurious pub with rooms called The Coniston Inn.
The historic 42-bed inn re-opened on Saturday, August 1, following the completion of the multimillion-pound redesign, which has also almost doubled the amount of accommodation.
During the 18-month redevelopment, the group has carried out a complete revamp of the traditional Lakeland slate building, which has been a hotel for over a century.
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Features include direct lake access from the inn’s private jetty and four acres of gardens with a pergoda facing the water, as well as new open plan bar and dining area.
The opening of the expanded Coniston Inn will create a total of 40 new jobs, while the group is also looking to recruit a further 50 people across its expanding portfolio of Lakes sites including The Ambleside Inn at Ambleside, The Swan in Grasmere and The Pheasant at Bassenthwaite.
Vintage memorabilia and photo murals have been added, drawing on the inn and Coniston’s heritage including Donald Campbell’s record-breaking Bluebird which crashed on Coniston Water in 1967.
A private dining room is available for larger parties or corporate guests and new extension, with traditional crafted Lakeland slate and Westmorland roof, has added a further 21 bedrooms, including interconnecting family rooms.
Husband and wife team John and Anita Dodsworth are general managers of the new Coniston Inn.
Mr Dodsworth said: “It’s been a long time in the making but the end product is second to none.
“We’ve been waiting for this day for 18 months and seeing the doors finally open fulfils a long-standing dream. We are so pleased to see everything we’ve been working on for so long come to life. It will be a great asset, both for people living in the community here in the Coniston area and for visitors alike.”
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The Inn Collection Group operations manager Chris Moor said: “The Coniston Inn is a massive boost for hospitality and tourism in the Lake District and for the local community surrounding the inn itself. We’ve created a real positive in the hospitality industry, generating jobs and actively recruiting.
“As The Inn Collection Group’s debut Lakes acquisition, it’s especially rewarding seeing The Coniston Inn open for business in what truly is one of the most breathtaking and unique addresses in the Lakes and one we as a group looked long and hard for over 10 years to find.”
The inn has opened as a Covid-secure site and is VisitEngland’s We’re Good To Go quality assured.
It is operating The Inn Collection Group’s 10-step Covid-secure protection programme including table service, social distancing markers and enhanced cleaning programmes.
The Alchemy-backed group’s estate of trading properties includes 14 pubs with rooms in Cumbria, Northumberland, County Durham and Yorkshire. A further 40-bedroom venue, The Seaburn Inn is currently under construction in Sunderland.