Group kicks off 2015 with three refurbs and one acquisition
By Gillian McKenzie
MANORVIEW Hotels & Leisure Group has completed three refurbs and acquired one pub since the turn of the year – and it remains on the acquisition trail.
Managing director Steve Graham told SLTN the company, which completed a £2.5 million refurbishment of The Busby Hotel on Glasgow’s south side last October, has invested £750,000 since January.
The spend includes the £120,000 refurbishment of the Innishmohr bar in Coatbridge, which Steve has owned for the past ten years; a root and branch revamp of the 300-capacity nightclub at The Commercial Hotel in Wishaw, which was relaunched as the Live Lounge late last month; and the freehold purchase of the Court Bar in Glasgow’s Hutcheson Street, which will join its Manorview Pub Partnerships (MPP) leasehold division. Fellow MPP outlet, the Windsor Bar in Hamilton, is due to open in the coming weeks following a refurbishment.
Manorview’s in-house maintenance team again worked with Space ID, the design firm which worked on The Busby Hotel, on the new-look Innishmohr. The six-week project saw the existing traditional bar counter and exposed brickwork paired with new flooring and high booth seating with tables made from the pub’s reclaimed floorboards.
Steve, whose company also owns the 500-capacity Soul Suite nightclub below the Innishmohr as well as late night bar Media and adjacent nightclub Level 2 across the road, said the new-look pub is proving popular with regulars as well as attracting new younger customers at weekends.
“The Innishmohr was my start in the licensed trade ten years ago; it was
trading well but it needed a refurb,” he told SLTN. “It’s gone down really well. The numbers are double what we expected.”
The Live Lounge at The Commercial Hotel, meanwhile, was revamped with new booths, sound and lighting, a bigger bar and an ‘infinity’ dancefloor; the smoking terrace was also spruced up.
The group, whose managed portfolio also includes The Torrance in East Kilbride, The Bowfield Hotel & Country Club in Howwood, The Lynnhurst in Johnstone and The Redhurst in Giffnock, is currently transforming former council office building Boclair House in Bearsden into a boutique hotel.
And Manorview Hotels, which now employs more than 400 staff and has a net turnover of £10 million, is on the lookout for further opportunities for both its managed and leasehold estates.
“We’re very much on the acquisition trail,” said Steve.
“At the moment you can cast a net over what we own but that will change if we continue to grow like this. If the right opportunity comes up we would consider it regardless of the location.
“Despite being on the lookout for more, it is about quality over quantity for us. Yes, we are trying to push on and grow but that ethos of ours will not change.”
