Owner of Crown & Mitre completes £10m refinancing deal

Crown & Mitre

AIM-listed Peel Hotels – owner of the Crown & Mitre Hotel in Carlisle – has refinanced its nine-strong regional group with almost £10m of funding from Allied Irish Bank (GB).

Formed in 1998 by seasoned hotelier Robert Peel and his brother Charles, Peel Hotels has grown to a portfolio of strategically-located hotels around the UK, an annual turnover approaching £17m and around 500 employees.

Peel Hotels started with the Bull Hotel in Peterborough and in addition to the Carlisle facility now comprises the Caledonian Hotel, Newcastle-upon-Tyne; Cosmopolitan Hotel, Leeds; George Hotel, Wallingford; King Malcolm Hotel, Dunfermline; Midland Hotel, Bradford; Norfolk Hotel, Bournemouth and the Strathdon Hotel, Nottingham.

The new funding arrangement with AIB (GB) includes a £9.9m five-year term loan facility, which will support the Group’s ongoing programme of refurbishments and improvements, as well as branch banking services for the hotels.

Trish McNicholas, senior relationship manager and a hotel sector specialist at Allied Irish Bank (GB), said: “Robert is a very well-respected and well-known hotelier with a proven track record built up over five decades in the business.

“Earlier in his career he developed Thistle Hotels into the second largest hotel company in the UK and the largest in London. In Peel Hotels Robert and his strong management teams across the country have succeeded in building a group that provides both business and individual guests with very high standards in both hotel facilities and hospitality.”

Peel said: “I’ve known AIB (GB) personally for around 15 years and have always had a very good relationship with my contact James O’Donnell and his colleagues there.

“I’ve been particularly impressed by their personal approach, which perfectly echoes my own philosophy of customer service.”

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