Why gin is it
LEISURE FIRM TO SPEND £5.6M ON PROJECT
Business reporter LEISURE leader Malhotra Group Plc has started work on a £5.6m project to transform a well-known Newcastle pub into a 64-bed hotel, bar and restaurant.
The Newcastle hospitality, property and care group have started work on the 18-month project at Three Mile Inn, Gos- forth, vowing it will be business as usual for customers during the three-phase scheme.
The first phase involves the creation of a three-storey extension to provide accommodation at the venue.
Further phases will include the conversion of the existing building from two to three storeys and the creation of conference, function and private dining facilities, a residents’ lounge, cafe, bar and restaurant.
The firm said around 25 jobs will be created when work is complete.
Information boards at the site will display progress reports; a leaflet drop to Gosforth homes and businesses will keep residents abreast of the development; and a specially created link on the company’s website will provide updates and answer queries. Operations director Atul Malhotra said: “Of all our venues, it is particularly close to my heart as I spent my early childhood living in Gosforth. And not only will we be trading as normal throughout the rest of this year, but we are of course continuing to take bookings for Christmas and the New Year.” “Our aim is to create a hotel and leisure facility which will be a real credit to Gosforth and a genuine asset to the community, and we Atul Malhotra very much hope our customers will support us, both during the transition period and once it is complete.”
Malhotra Group’s Three Mile Inn development is one of several current leisure projects, which began with the recently completed £1.2m refurbishment of its Newcastle city centre Grey Street Hotel.
Other plans include a sportsthemed bar, new gin bar and additional bedrooms at The New Northumbria Hotel, Jesmond, while Market Lane, affectionately known as Monkey Bar, at Pilgrim Street, Newcastle, is to be fully refurbished over both floors.
Meanwhile, Balmbras – immortalised in Tyneside folklore in Geordie Ridley’s famous Blaydon Races song – is set to be regenerated in a £1.4m makeover.
The group’s care division, Prestwick Care, has also started work on three new care home schemes. First to open will be an 87-bedroom care facility in Alnwick, Northumberland, which will be open by the end of 2018, followed by a 66-bedroom care facility at Ryhope, Sunderland, which will open in early 2019, and the development of the former Rex Hotel, Whitley Bay, which will open as an 83-bedroom care facility in two years’ time.