Hotel du Vin sees niche potential in its Harrogate site

Hotel du Vin, one of Britain's fastest expanding small hotel groups, is to open a hotel in Harrogate, it announced this week.

The group has agreed to buy the Harrogate Spa from Peel Hotels for £2.4m. The deal will be completed in September and the hotel will close for refurbishment before reopening next spring. Hotel du Vin has borrowed £6m from the Royal Bank of Scotland to finance the purchase and refurbishment. It will be the group's sixth hotel.

The hotel, which now has 71 bedrooms, will have between 45 and 50 bedrooms once the refurbishment is completed.

Robin Hutson, Hotel du Vin's managing director, said: "We have been looking at several northern towns. There has been quite a lot happening in Leeds, but I considered that had already been done now. Harrogate seemed like a good choice. It's got a conference centre, which is quite useful, and most of the established hotels are traditional, so I think there is a niche for us here."

The North Yorkshire hotel is in a complete block of eight Georgian houses. It is listed, but Hutson did not expect any problems with Hotel du Vin's development.

The latest hotel in the group will "pick up on the themes of the others", he said. Particular features will include a billiard room and a cigar lounge.

The Hotel du Vin group is projecting a turnover of £13m for this financial year, which is expected to increase to more than £20m when its latest hotels in Brighton and Harrogate open.

by David Harris

Source: Caterer & Hotelkeeper magazine, 27 June - 3 July 2002