De Vere buys Dunston Hall
DE VERE Hotels has bought the 72-bedroom Dunston Hall near Norwich for £16.5m, a deal first tipped last year (Caterer, 17 December 1998, page 9).
Four-star Dunston Hall is set in 170 acres of grounds and has a variety of conference and leisure facilities as well as an 18-hole golf course. It was converted into a hotel in 1992 by the vendors, Keith and Heather Shaw.
Paul Dermody, managing director of parent company Greenalls Hotels & Leisure, said the new property fitted well with De Vere's profile and was in an area of the country not previously covered by the chain.
Although it has just 72 bedrooms, 60 more are being added, which will take the hotel into De Vere's preferred size range of 120 to 150 bedrooms. The new rooms should be ready by October.
Some 200 full- and part-time staff at Dunston Hall will transfer to De Vere, although general manager Karen Heavens left on the day the deal was completed.
Meanwhile, Greenalls has secured a greenfield site inDudley, West Midlands, for an addition to its Village Leisure chain. The new hotel should open by late 2000 with around 100 bedrooms.
