Shropshire hotel and spa spending £800,000 to upgrade facilities
A Shropshire hotel and spa is to invest £800,000 in improvements and refurbishments over the next three years.
Work is set to begin on the Lion Quays at Weston Rhyn, near Oswestry, in January following the sale of its sister businesses Moreton Park Hotel and the Lord Moreton restaurant at the end of November.
Manager Steve Ogden said the sale meant the company had the financial stability to be able to invest in the Lion Quays.
"The financial stability going forward is better and investing here will allow us to offer more to customers," he said.
"I would expect half of that £800,000 to be spent in 2015 with the rest of the work carried out into 2016 and 2017."
All parts of the complex, which is sited on the A5, will undergo refurbishment, starting with the Lion Suite conference rooms which will be transformed to allow the business to provide wedding packages.
"The best time of the year to do this sort of work is usually before Easter because it tends to be quieter," Mr Ogden said.
"The Waterside Restaurant is 10 years old, the hotel is eight and the spa is six, so it needs doing.
"Once we get the suite refurbished then weddings will be a real priority. We've got wedding fairs booked and four wedding open days for next year. We're trying to encourage more people to book a winter wedding here as well.
"The spa and the country club will be busy in the new year but then after three months it can be more difficult to keep people coming back – they're too busy or their motivation goes."
Part of the work being done will include a rebrand which Mr Ogden said he hopes will encourage more passing trade.
He said: "The restaurant is always busy, but another thing we really want to encourage people to do is to just drop in for a coffee. We're on a main road but we don't get that many people just coming in."
Shropshire Leisure Group was bought by RCapital investment company last year. The company sold Moreton Park garden centre to the Wyevale Group earlier in the year and sold Moreton Park Hotel and the Lord Moreton restaurant to Habern Enterprises last month.
