The founder of North East care, leisure and property company Malhotra Group Plc has launched a charitable foundation with an initial £1m cash pot to demonstrate his continuing commitment to giving back to the community.
The Malhotra Family Foundation is the initiative of Meenu Malhotra, chairman and shareholder of the Newcastle-based business which owns a number of bars, hotels and restaurants in the North East, including The Three Mile at Gosforth, Grey Street Hotel, the Great North Hotel and the New Northumbria Hotel, alongside its care home business Prestwick Care.
Mr Malhotra said the foundation is the culmination of a long held desire to set up an an organisation to support a range of worthy causes, and £1m has been set aside for suitable-health related and community-based causes.
The first commitment is towards a £1.5m project for a community-based charity hub at Darras Hall in an existing historic building, which it is already contracted to purchase and will create 25 jobs.
Previous donations have included funding towards the orthopaedic research at the Newcastle University’s Medical School in collaboration with Newcastle Hospitals Foundation Trust, as well as £100,000 towards the building of The Institute of Neurosciences of West Bengal ‘Kolkata Hospital Charity Appeal’. The Kolkata hospital opened in 2014, offering half of its beds free of charge to the people of West Bengal, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal.
The foundation will be based at India House at Parrish Buildings, Shields Road, Newcastle which was officially opened last year following Mr Malhotra’s appointment in 2024 as Honorary Consul General of India, the first appointment of its kind in England since India gained its independence 75 years ago.
Mr Malhotra, who was appointed as a Deputy Lord-Lieutenant of Northumberland in 2021, already provides mentoring to a range of start-up businesses and investing in and guiding Little Angels in the Ƶ and overseas, but now wants to step up community involvement.
He said: “Creating the Malhotra Family Foundation is the realisation of a long-held dream for me and my family. It will enable us to continue with our support of worthwhile causes in the Ƶ and in Asia.”
The criteria for applications and the funds available will be announced soon, as well as news of further trustees and a major patron.
The company is currently working on the creation of its newest care home at the former Rex Hotel in Whitley Bay. In a £10m scheme the Victorian-style hotel and the attached Deep nightclub will be turned into an 83-bedroom home with dining, leisure, treatment, administration and support facilities.
The group’s most recent accounts for the year to March 31 2024 showed a £10m rise in turnover to £57.5m, while operating profit for the year remained steady at £10.3m.
