Four-star buy for Stakis

Stakis, the Glasgow-based hotels, casinos and leisure group, is this week expected to announce a further addition to its rapidly expanding hotel chain, writes Andrew Sangster.

Its target is the 84-bedroom Chalon Court Hotel at St Helens, Merseyside, currently owned by glassmaker Pilkington. The four-star property, built four years ago, is likely to fetch more than £5m.

Stakis is also understood to be eyeing a site at Strathclyde Business Park in Lanarkshire. It is thought to be for a new-build hotel of about 140 bedrooms to service the business park.

Organic growth, as well as acquisition, is driving expansion at Stakis, as proved by the official opening today (13 September) in Glasgow of new bar-restaurant concept, Miller's. The 68-seat restaurant and separate sports bar has been developed at a cost of £150,000 on a site adjacent to the Stakis Ingram Hotel.

"There is a strong trend in the direction of themed restaurants in the UK," said Anthony Harris, managing director of Stakis Hotels.

By developing its own brand, Stakis has moved away from importing outside restaurant concepts. This was first tried at the Stakis York where a Henry J Bean's is franchised from My Kinda Town.

But a Stakis spokesman stressed there would be no blanket policy toward restaurants and they would be developed on a hotel-by-hotel basis.