Telford hotel snapped up by growing West Midlands group

The Mercure Telford Madeley Court Hotel has been snapped up by Talash Hotels Group in Leamington Spa from Focus Management Hotels for an undisclosed sum.

It is the sixth acquisition by Talash Hotels Group, run by brothers Sanjay and Ravi Kathuria, in the last 13 months, and brings the total number of hotels in the group to 13.

It also snapped up another site in Wolverhampton last week, when it took on the Mercure Goldthorn Hotel, also from Focus.

However, the Shropshire Star understands that the deal did not include another of the Focus hotels in Shropshire – the Mercure Shrewsbury Albrighton Hall.

This Madeley Court is a 16th century manor house which is two miles from the Ironbridge Gorge. It has 49 bedrooms, and three conference rooms for business and social events.

Talash director Sanjay Kathuria said: “We clearly believe there is opportunity for growth in our recent acquisition.

"We are very much a hands on management team and look forward to enhancing and promoting this beautiful historic building and the facilities it has to offer.

"While the ownership has changed the Mercure brand and highest standards of service will remain.

"We’re well on track to build a group of 20 hotels by 2020 and have a built a truly symbiotic relationship with Barclays, working in partnership to deliver our strategic goals. We look forward to working together on future projects.”

The deal was the second purchase by Talash to be backed by Barclays.

Richard Fray, relationship director with the bank, said: "By really understanding the business and the industry sector, Barclays has been able to deliver a funding package to support the Talash Groups ambitious growth strategy.

"This is the second acquisition Barclays has supported within the last 12 months and demonstrates the availability of large scale funding packages for the right propositions."

Research by Barclays Business has shown that hospitality businesses in the UK are booming.

Three quarters of UK adults have been on, or are planning a UK staycation this year, up from 70 per cent in 2016.

Significantly, the average turnover of SMEs in the accommodation and food services sector rose by 8.3 per cent in the first half of 2017 compared to the same period last year.

Mr Fray added: "In combination with the weak pound attracting growing numbers of inbound tourists, which is having a healthy impact on SME businesses in the accommodation and food services sectors, the future looks bright."