Lichfield coaching inn bought to train students

An 18th century coaching inn at Lichfield, Staffordshire, has been bought by two colleges to provide its hotel and catering students with work experience.

The students, from Lichfield and Tamworth colleges, are studying for General National Vocational Qualifications (GNVQs) launched this autumn, and National Vocational Qualifications levels two and three.

Students will work at least one shift a week in the Swan, which has bars, a restaurant and 11 bedrooms - all open to the public. Most of the work experience will be in restaurant and reception work.

The hotel, which was unused for five years, cost more than £1m to buy and refurbish. The colleges received £450,000 in funding from the European Regional Development Fund.

Chris Bull, assistant principal at Tamworth College, said she would welcome queries from managers in the industry about training possibilities at the Swan. At a busy function, up to 10 students could be working at the inn.

"The Swan offers students real working situations and if their work is not up to scratch they will be told. It will add a valuable dimension to their training," said Mr Bull.

Students doing work experience at the inn will do so under the watchful eye of 25 staff employed by the colleges to run the inn.

The colleges pay a consultancy fee to Mercury Management, which runs pubs and hotels and is looking after some aspects of the hotel's management, including finance and stocks.

Twelve rooms at the hotel have been converted to training rooms, to be used for a variety of adult courses including languages and business administration.

The inn's opening comes a week after Hilton announced it was offering work experience to GNVQ students under the so-called GNVQ Scholarship scheme.