Stein pulls out of £6.5m hotel project

Chef Rick Stein has announced he is not continuing with his plans to open a new hotel in Newquay, Cornwall.

Stein had planned to open the 42-bedroom property at the site of the former Rocklands hotel, but is now pulling out of the project because of spiralling costs.

"The reason is, quite simply, that it's too expensive. The costs of developing the hotel rose from an initial £1.5m for refurbishment to £6.5m for a complete new-build project," he said.

"While it would be possible to invite other investors on board, we've always pursued a policy of self-financing our business developments and £6m is just too much."

Designs for the project included an "inclinator", a specially designed lift that would have transferred guests down from the clifftop hotel to its restaurant on Tolcarne Beach.

Stein has already spent about £880,000 on the hotel, which will shortly be put up for sale.

He said he had no further plans for Newquay, but was still interested in developing his business in Cornwall. The chef has recently opened Stein's Fish & Chips in Padstow and said he needed to concentrate on "smoothing out the wrinkles" there before taking on another project.