Chinedu Ochinanwata’s Statement Hotel Limited, has entered the United Kingdom’s hospitality market with the acquisition of the twenty-nine room Clarendon Hotel in Morecambe, Lancashire. Mr Ochinwata is the owner of one of Enugu’s top hotels, the Golden Royale.
The Statement Hotel Limited, incorporated at Companies House in March 2018, bought the Clarendon for an undisclosed cash figure off a guide price of £725,000 (Around N300,000) and plans to turn the property into “a destination hotel with world-class standards”. Ochinwata says his UK company was attracted to the Morecambe, partly due to current proposals to develop the multimillion-pound Eden Project North in the seaside town.
The Clarendon, which was used as RAF headquarters during World War Two, was part of a portfolio of nine pubs and two hotels purchased by Provincial Hotels and Inns, operated by management firm Onecall Hospitality. Mitchells of Lancaster, which is now in administration, sold the hotel to Burton-in-Kendal based Provincial Hotels and Inns in 2016.
The Clarendon includes The Waterfront restaurant and Davy Jones Locker.
Nonso Ochinanwata of the Statement Hotel, said the acquisition of the property marked the company’s intention to build “a broader investment portfolio” in the UK.
“We targeted Morecambe as a location for various reasons, however, the proposals for the new Eden project, a venue intended to draw 500,000 to a million visitors every year, was a key factor.
“Now the transaction has completed we will be focussing our attention on transforming the Clarendon into a destination hotel with world-class standards.”
The deal was brokered by property company Fleurets.