Marston Hotels Buys Stately Crewe Hall

LONDON- Marston Hotels Group has bought Crewe Hall, a Jacobean house converted into a luxury hotel with 65 bedrooms, on the outskirts of Crewe in Cheshire. Price is undisclosed but market rumour puts it at more than £5 million ($8 million).

Once the seat of the Earls of Crewe and latterly owned by the Duchy of Lancaster, Crewe Hall was used as a prison camp during World War II for high-ranking German officers. Among its features are its main staircase, conference and banqueting rooms and period bedrooms. Listed grade I, it has recently had an extension, agreed by English Heritage, which increased the bedroom numbers and provided a hi-tech brasserie.

‘It is our intention to continue to grow the company’, commented Marston chairman Chris Scragg. ‘We currently have a major £7 million ($11.2 million) extension and redevelopment nearing completion at our Hampshire Centrecourt hotel in Basingstoke, work is well underway at Cambridge with the building of a 120 bedroomed 4 star hotel and we also have two further sites for the building of 120 bedroomed 4 star hotels.