£1m investment gets flooded Leeds hotel back on its feet

LEEDS hotel the Crowne Plaza on Wellington Street has reopened after a £1m investment in refurbishment.

The hotel was devastated in the Boxing Day floods which had destroyed its car parks, storage facility and internal infrastructure, which is said cost it £1.2m in revenues.

The hotel employs 80 staff who were redeployed to hotels across the country.

Meeting rooms, restaurants and leisure centre with the gym and swimming pool and to be deep cleaned, with doors and swathes of carpet replaced.

Marco Frik, general manager of the Crowne Plaza Leeds, said: “There is no doubt that the Boxing Day floods devastated our hotel’s infrastructure and that it’s been a difficult and costly journey to get to this point.

“Boxing day was a terrible day for us as we had to fully evacuate the building, which was a very frightening experience for our staff and customers.

“However, we have spent more than £1m getting the hotel back to full working order, and we’ve taken the opportunity to upgrade certain areas of the hotel such as the leisure centre, so the reopening is certainly worth the wait.”

Sir Gary Verity, Chief Executive of Welcome to Yorkshire, who reopened the hotel said;

“I’m delighted that the Crowne Plaza has reopened after suffering such severe damage in the recent floods. The Crowne Plaza is a central part of the Leeds business community and I encourage visitors to Leeds to book a stay at the hotel.

“As well as experiencing new facilities, they can show their support in helping to get flood affected businesses back on their feet. Yorkshire is open for business and we are ready to give all of our visitors a warm Yorkshire welcome.”

Mr Frik, thanked staff for their efforts during a difficult time, who he said had gone “above and beyond” to help the hotel get back on its feet.

The hotel reopened yesterday, Tuesday 1 March.