Lavender buys Camelot hotel, saves 80 jobs

Bury-based Lavender Hotels Group has bought the 140-room Camelot's Park Hall Hotel near Chorley, which went into receivership in February, for an undisclosed sum.

Lavender has been trading since 1979 and operates five hotel and leisure clubs across the North West; four in Lancashire and one in Cheshire.

Les Ross, of receiver Grant Thornton, said: "The sale means that the business can continue going forward. This is great news for the 80 employees whose jobs have been saved at the hotel, as well as customers who had bookings for the summer."

Discussions are still ongoing regarding the future of the adjacent Camelot Theme Park, which was also placed in receivership in February.

The receivers are currently in a period of exclusivity with a potential buyer for the land and theme park assets.

Ross added: "The buyer is currently looking at the feasibility of continuing to run a theme park on the site in the future.

"We will now be focusing on getting the best deal possible for the theme park and remaining land."

Stefan Sikorski, managing director of Lavender, said: "From our initial discussions with the Receivers it quickly became clear that Park Hall Hotel had similar facilities and strategies to our existing hotels and leisure clubs and we look forward to building on the hotels already outstanding reputation."