A MULTI-million pound extension will make a Chester hotel the biggest in the city.
Work will start at The Queen Hotel in City Road, opposite the train station, in January.
When it is finished in August, the hotel will have an extra 86 bedrooms after The Feathers Hotel and Catering Group bought adjacent office block Thistle House with funding from The Royal Bank of Scotland.
The new extension will be called ‘the Kings at the Queens’ as the development will feature luxury bedrooms, conference facilities and an executive lounge.
The hotel will become the largest in Chester with 215 bedrooms and a conference and banqueting centre suitable for 300 guests.
The Queen Hotel’s general manager Andrew Lockwood says the scale of the project will attract business to Chester.
He said: “I’m very excited about it. It’s a big, big project. It means we can pitch for corporate events where people want bedrooms in the same location.
“We’ve completely gutted the old Halifax Bank of Scotland building.”
The four-star hotel opened in 1860 and has welcomed many famous guests over the years including Charles Dickens, Lilly Langtry and Cecil Rhodes.
Stuart Hunter, managing director of the Feathers Group, said: “This recent acquisition will provide the North West with bedrooms that will be truly stunning and a new conference centre that will encourage major events into the heart of Chester.”
Geoff Worrall, relationship director at the Royal Bank of Scotland, said: “We have worked with Feathers’ directors on a number of projects and we have always been impressed by their entrepreneurial skill and their knowledge of the local hotel and hospitality market.”
