New owners pledge £1m facelift to Chateau Impney Hotel
THE owner of Droitwich-based Chateau Impney Hotel & Exhibition Centre has pledged to invest £1m in the facility during the next 12 months to position the hotel as one of the best in the country.
The revamp comes after the iconic Grade II listed Chateau was bought out of administration in July last year by Birmingham-based Greyfort Properties, saving 44 jobs.
Greyfort has now completed the first phase of a major refurbishment programme. The three-month programme has seen the 106-bedroom property lavishly refurbish a quarter of its accommodation, while preserving the Chateau’s wealth of important historical features.
Improvements have also been made to a number of other parts of the hotel, including its function rooms, the reception and bar areas, and the Chateau’s ornamental gardens. In addition, the hotel has been rebranded and launched a new website.
The facelift will also see a new focus given the hotel’s conferencing and exhibitions facilities. The site includes the Impney Regent Centre, which is the second biggest exhibition space in the Midlands after the NEC.
In recent years, the facilities have been under-utilised, something the new management team plans to rectify.
Ben Elder, general manager, said that from the outset, the new owner had made a clear commitment to put the property back on the map and to re-establish the venue as one of the best hotels in the country.
“The work undertaken to date is just the first step of that ambitious plan, and we are delighted with the results so far,” he said.
He added that while many people in the region would know the hotel, most would be unaware of the size of the exhibition space.
“Given our close proximity to the M5 and the access this gives us to Birmingham, the rest of the Midlands and the South West, conferencing and exhibitions is an area of the business that we intend to focus heavily on, positioning the Impney Regent Centre as one of the region’s leading exhibition centres,” he said.
Set in 110 acres of manicured gardens and grounds, the Chateau is one of the most authentic examples of French chateau-style buildings in the UK. Dating back to 1875, it was originally constructed as a private residence for John Corbett, a wealthy Droitwich businessman, before being converted into a hotel in 1928.
