Malmaison, the group of boutique hotels owned by property company Marylebone Warwick Balfour (MWB), is to open its eighth UK site in a former prison in Oxford. The hotel is the first in the group to be operated as a management contract.
A 35-year management contract has been signed for an 87-bedroom hotel with bar and brasserie that will occupy the former gaol at Grade II-listed Oxford Castle. The hotel is expected to open in 2005.
The town-centre castle, which began life as a motte and bailey castle built for William the Conqueror in 1071, is being transformed into a hotel, restaurant, shopping and heritage complex by developer Trevor Osborne, who has leased the property from Oxfordshire County Council.
The hotel will occupy about half of the development, which will also encompass 40 apartments, market stalls and open courtyards for performances. La Tasca, Carluccio's and the Living Room restaurant and bar chain will be among eight restaurants planned for the site.
The prison, where conditions were condemned in the 1770s, continued in use until 1996.
"We believe our guests will appreciate this historic building, its interesting roots and the high standards we bring to hotel design," said Malmaison managing director Charles Holmes. "We can assure inmates that balls and chains will be optional."
Malmaison owns hotels in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Newcastle, Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham, and will open a seventh property in Charterhouse Square, London, in November.
Malmaison - The background
The Malmaison brand was launched in 1994 by Ken McCulloch, with the assistance of Gordon McKinnon. The hotels, initially in Glasgow and Edinburgh, focused as much on areas such as the brasseries as on the bedrooms.
The brand attracted the attention of entrepreneur Robert Breare who, through his Arcadian Hotels, lent the business money to expand. This led to Malmaison being swallowed by US giant Patriot American (now Wyndham) when it bought Arcadian.
In August 2000 Patriot sold the chain to property company Marylebone Warwick Balfour (MWB) for £65m. As part of the deal, Rezidor SAS and MWB jointly forked out an additional £11m for the Malmaison brand.
MWB says it intends to sell the Malmaison chain by the end of 2005, despite announcing a year ago that it planned to open more hotels in Germany and Belgium.
By Angela Frewin