Member Article

Lancashire’s Barton Grange Hotel is Blooming with Added Investment

**- as new Garden House bedrooms and ’wedding’ garden renovations are completed

Lancashire’s Barton Grange Hotel has certainly not rested on its success in the last few years. Having invested £670 000 in the last three years into upgrading its bedrooms, corridors and main events space - the Barton Suite, the Hotel has announced this week that owners have added a further £250 000 into upgrades at the Hotel.

The Hotel has just completed refurbishment to its eight guest rooms in the adjacent Garden House, which is now offered to guests wishing to book larger groups into the Hotel such as for a private party, wedding or conference, or those just looking for extra privacy and a unique garden view during their stay.

Brides and grooms with weddings at the Hotel or companies staging a business event can also now take advantage of a newly landscaped ‘wedding’ garden. Designed by the Hotel’s sister company, the Barton Grange Landscapes, the gardens have been manicured with new shrubs, flowers, paving and lighting, to offer couples the option of hosting an al fresco wedding drinks reception. Of course, not exclusively the realm of wedding guests, the space has the capacity to hold up to 200 people for a private drinks party or corporate cocktail evening, and can be a venue for a marquee seating 240 people.

Lounge area renovations are also complete. With a warm, contemporary style mind, the lounge can now accommodate up to 30 guests for morning coffees, pre-dinner cocktails or night-caps, and adds a welcoming space to relax or meet friends at the Hotel’s entrance.

With general manager Daniel Rich at the helm for the past three years, the Hotel has already seen steady growth resulting from the upgrading of accommodation and meeting spaces, and improved marketing and management - but plans go further.

The Hotel is now expanding its leisure offering, with the addition of a spa treatment services to its current indoor pool and gym. Two new treatment rooms will provide a range of therapeutic, beauty and salon treatments. This will be available to Hotel guests, people living locally and an exclusive club membership from early 2018.

Commenting on the development programme Daniel Rich, general manager said: “The final stages of the changes are about ensuring that the Hotel is very much the ‘go to’ destination for event organisers, wedding couples and leisure visitors to the local area.’

‘The opening of our leisure club’s spa services will give us scope to expand our customer base even further. At the moment it is a strong, growth sector and will enable the Hotel to attract a wider range of leisure travellers, as well as offering a greater service to our wedding couples and corporate clients looking for incentive breaks and bespoke ‘away-days’.’

Daniel added: ‘We are particularly delighted that we were able to use local tradespeople to help with the work carried out. Our philosophy has always been to source locally wherever we can, and this refurbishment has been no exception – from architects to builders, painters and decorators to flooring, and spa therapists to garden landscapers….all from Lancashire.’

“We are continuing to build on our success as the year progresses, with a growth in our events business of 20%, and our accommodation continues to show a strong performance with average room rates up by 10% on last year. These are firm foundations on which to continue to develop the business and I am confident that the investment in further upgrades at the Hotel will play a huge part in seeing the Hotel achieve greater success moving forwards.’

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by SARAH LEWIS .