Hotel La Tour opens in Birmingham after £24m investment
The four-star, 174-bedroom Hotel La Tour - the first in what is intended to be a group of five hotels within five years - has opened in Birmingham city centre.
Developed at a cost of £24m, the hotel includes a restaurant and bar inspired by Marcus Wareing.
Hotel La Tour has been built on a 99-year lease by the former management team of Hayley Conference Centres, which was acquired by private-equity firm Permira in 2007, for £358m.
Jane Schofield, managing director of the new group, seen here with operations director Adrian Coleman, said: "To see the hotel open to guests after five years' research, planning, designing and building is a watershed moment in what we hope will be a long and successful history for Hotel La Tour."
More than 2,000 candidates applied for 100 full- and part-time jobs at the Albert Street hotel and £1m of inquiries had been received prior to yesterday's opening.
The property is one of 30 new hotels developments which Birmingham City Council recently announced as being in the pipeline for the city. Council leader Mike Whitby said: "A record 32.8m visitors came to Birmingham in 2010 - our fifth successive year of growth - and this boom in both leisure and business tourism in one of the reason that we have so many hotels currently at various stages of construction of planning and construction.
"The other key factor driving this expansion is that Birmingham has the right physical and economic environment to attract and support investors."
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By Janet Harmer
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