Hotel Owner April 2017 | Page 8

TRADE TALK > news from across the UK hospitality industry DEVELOPMENTS CURRENT AFFAIRS Five-star London hotel evacuates Hotel planned guests after basement fire as part of 150 guests and 50 members occurred in a light well adjacent to £360m Coventry Some of staff were evacuated from the Le hotel’s basement. development Méridien Piccadilly hotel last month A spokesperson for the hotel, 8 Plans for a new hotel have been revealed as part of a new £360m City Centre South development in coventry. Coventry City Council has approved the appointment of Shearer Property Group, which has previously worked on schemes such as Parkway in Newbury and the Grand Arcade in Cambridge, to lead the 818,000 sq ft mixed-use development. City Centre South aims to transform some of the most out-dated areas of the city centre, including Bull Yard, Shelton Square, City Arcade and Hertford Street - a bid to make the city the second biggest shopping destination in the West Midlands. As well as the planned hotel, the development proposal includes; a major department store; three flagship stores; 50 new retail units; multi-storey car park; cinema and other leisure uses; restaurants; and private and rented residential and student accommodation. The hotel and restaurants will be located in the leisure part of the development in Hertford Street, linking to Broadgate Square. Jim O’Boyle, cabinet member for jobs and regeneration, said: “City Centre South is a key part of our plans to create a new, vibrant Coventry and we wanted to be absolutely sure we had the right scheme in place. “We need to attract major names and bring people back into the city centre for shopping and leisure - in the daytime and at night - and this mixed development will transform what is now a tired and dated part of the centre.” www.hotelowner.co.uk due to a small fire in its basement. Six fire engines and 35 firefighters were called at 11:15am on Monday 27 March to reports of smoke issuing from the basement of the five-star hotel in Piccadilly, London. The London Fire Brigade confirmed fire crews from Soho, Chelsea, Euston and Lambeth fire stations attended the scene, and it later said a small rubbish fire which was declared safe at 3pm, said: “Le Méridien Piccadilly was evacuated for precautionary measures due to a small fire in the boiler room. “The hotel team worked diligently with the local authorities to resolve the situation as quickly as possible. The hotel has been declared safe and guests are now able to return to their rooms. We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused.” AWARDS Rockliffe Hall named Pride of Britain ‘Hotel of the Year’ Rockliffe Hall has been named Pride of Britain Hotel of the Year 2017 for delivering “exceptional hospitality at every level”. The five-star 61-bedroom hotel near Darlington was awarded the title at the Pride of Britain Hotels’ annual general meeting on 27 March, where the resort’s chief executive, Eamonn Elliott, collected the award. Peter Hancock, chief executive of Pride of Britain Hotels, said: “Every year our member hotels are visited by mystery guests appointed by the collection. Rockliffe Hall and its dedicated team was identified amongst a shortlist of hotels all found to offer exceptional hospitality.” Elliott added it was a “privilege and honour” to accept the award on behalf of the hotel. Pride of Britain is a collection of never more than 50 hotels, with admission to the group subject to each hotel passing an anonymous overnight inspection and a ballot of its membership. April 2017