Hastings unveil plans for grand new hotel

Hastings unveil plans for grand new hotel

Sir William Hastings hosted a press and industry briefing recently at which he revealed the hotel group’s ambitious plans for Windsor House in Belfast city centre.

 

The name of Belfast’s Grand Central Hotel – which closed its doors in 1970 – is to be reborn in the centre of the city.

Hastings Hotels, which recently acquired 22-storey Windsor House in Bedford Street, has revealed £30m plans for the refurbishment of the building and the creation of a new four-star hotel that will carry the famous name.

Subject to planning permission, Hastings intends to transform the building into a 200-bedroom, four-star hotel in a £30m investment that should create around 150 new jobs.

This will be the seventh hotel in the Hastings portfolio, making it the largest privately-owned chain on the island of Ireland.

At a well-attended briefing event on Wednesday, June 24, Sir William Hastings said that the acquisition of Windsor House – which cost £6.5m – had been the group’s largest investment to date:

“On completion in 2018, the hotel will operate at the upper end of the 4-star market, offering 200 bedrooms, a restaurant and bar, 18 serviced apartments and a range of superbly appointed office accommodation,” he added. “This project is a huge undertaking for Hastings Hotels and it is has only been made possible by the strength of our existing hotels portfolio and the quality of our staff and management. It will bring the number of bedrooms in our group to over 1,000.”

The original Grand Central, which also boasted 200 bedrooms, was built in 1893 and was the thriving hub of Victorian Belfast as well as the finest hotel in Ireland. Winston Churchill, the King of Belgium, Al Jolson, Mario Lanza and the Beatles were all guests who enjoyed its luxurious hospitality.

“The Belfast Grand Central Hotel will fulfil the requirement for much-needed city centre accommodation in Belfast,” continued Sir William. “Tourism in Northern Ireland continues to thrive and it is the ideal time to extend our portfolio of hotels with more high profile events coming to the city as well as an increase in business tourism which will be helped by the expansion of the Belfast Waterfront next year.”

Enterprise, Trade and Investment Minister Jonathan Bell, who was also present, said that he had been impressed with the vision presented by the Hastings group: “This is great news for Belfast and for Northern Ireland, as the group’s continued investment is a massive vote of confidence in our tourism sector,” he added. “The new hotel will add considerably to the local accommodation offering and allow Northern Ireland to capitalise further on the growing international business conference market.”