Leigh Sports Village hotel sold

A 135-bed hotel at Leigh Sports Village is to become a Holiday Inn Express after being changing hands.

The venue has been sold by London’s LPI Hotels to Manchester-based Kro Hotels for an undisclosed sum.

It is currently run by Radisson under the Park Inn brand but will become a Holiday Inn Express through a franchise agreement with InterContinental Hotels.

The venue opened in 2008 as part of the Leigh Sports Village, a mixed-use scheme with an 11,000-seat stadium which was used by Elton John to launch his summer tour last month.

Kro Hotels, which is not related to the Kro bar chain, is led by Kim Eivind Krohn who said the deal was part of a strategy to build a portfolio of branded hotels.

Mr Krohn said: “This part of Leigh has been transformed in recent years and attracts customers from across the UK. The site is close to both Manchester and Liverpool, as well as the towns of Warrington, Bolton and Wigan.
 
“We look forward to the hotel rebranding in early August 2014 to a Holiday Inn Express, a well-established and extremely popular worldwide brand, following a full refurbishment programme. The hotel will be trading as Leigh Sports Village Hotel during this transition period.”

The sale of the hotel was handled by JLL. Senior vice president Alistair Greenhalgh said: “The sale of the Park Inn, Leigh continues to reflect the significant increase in demand which we have experienced for hotel property in the first half of 2014. There is particular interest in hotels like Park Inn that already operate under an international brand yet where the availability of vacant possession provides flexibility in terms of future management.”