Northampton hotel chain unveils first site
A newly-founded hotel group based in Northampton is set to launch its £24m flagship site in the Midlands. Jane Schofield, of the Hotel La Tour group, told Insider the company was looking at "every major UK city" as a potential investment.
The company's first hotel, a privately funded, 174-bedroom hotel, will be anchored in Birmingham.
Schofield, the company's managing director, told Insider the company planned to open five more hotels in the same number of years.
Hotel La Tour was founded by the former management team of Midlands-based Hayley Conference Centres, which was sold in 2007 to private equity firm Permira in a £358m deal.
Schofield and her team secured funding from HSBC to set up Hotel La Tour once the conferencing company had been bought.
It is estimated the three-sided, £24m hotel will create 100 jobs when it opens in February next year. The hotel, which will also comprise conferencing facilities, a restaurant, bar and street café, is one of the city's only privately-funded projects currently underway.
Schofield said she wanted Hotel La Tour to expand across the country over the next few years, with Manchester and outer London the next targets for the group.
"We're really looking at every major city in the UK as a potential investment. But we will definitely be heading up north to Manchester and down South next. After that, we'll look to move into Scotland and infiltrate across the UK.
"We're looking to open five hotels over the next five year, but obviously that's dependant on planning permission and being able to find suitable plots."
