Member Article

Tamworth hotel undergoes £50,000 refurbishment

A Tamworth plumbers merchants was on familiar territory during the £50,000 refurbishment of a hotel in the town.

W H Horton was located at the building which is now occupied by the Peel Hotel in Aldergate between 1951 and 1982.

The business, which receives financial advice from Baldwins Accountants in Ventura Park Road, Tamworth, has supplied the bathroom equipment to complete the renovation of 20 bedrooms at the Grade II listed building.

The family-run Peel Hotel is also transforming a pizza restaurant into an indoor restaurant with 40 covers and there will be outdoor dining for 15 guests.

Christopher Gill Junior, part of the management team which owns the hotel, said the refurbishment was due to be completed in September.

“It is always great to work with other local businesses particularly a company such as W H Horton which has such strong links with this site,” he said.

“It is ironic that we chose a business which was based here for over 30 years to supply all the bathroom equipment that we needed from toilets to pipework to upgrade our bedrooms.

“After W H Horton moved in the early 1908s, the building went through a couple of incarnations before it became a hotel about 15 years ago.

“We started the refurbishment in December and we have taken great care since it is Grade II listed and in a conservation area.

“The pizza restaurant at the front of the building moved on and we had a chance to reintegrate restaurant space into the premises because we didn’t have a street presence.

“We are increasing our indoor restaurant from 25 to 40 and after previously owning a restaurant in Tamworth called Christopher’s, we have decided that will be the name of the new restaurant.

“One of the great new features of the renovation is that we will have a proper reception area and we can’t wait until it is completed.”

W H Horton owner Shaun Gault said their old premises had played a vital part in the company’s history and it had been interesting to visit throughout the project.

“W H Horton was formed in 1951 and I have owned it for the last 12 years,” he said. “We moved from West Street to premises which were 25 per cent bigger in Kettlebrook Road three years ago.

“We started supplying heating and plumbing supplies for bathrooms in Aldergate in 1951 and are still going strong.

“It has been a pleasure to play our part in a new chapter of the building’s life to ensure the refurbishment work was completed in time.”

Rob Cockle, director at Baldwins Accountants, said it was great to see long-established Tamworth business W H Horton involved in the revamp of another Tamworth business, the Peel Hotel.

“Shaun is passionate about his business and its history and the two played a substantial part in this contract,” he said.

“It seemed fitting they should provide the bathroom fittings at premises which were their home for over three decades.

“We have provided W H Horton with a wide range of financial advice and assistance over the years as we do for many entrepreneurial owner-managed and family businesses.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Matt Joyce .