Urban & Country Leisure to launch its first hotel

16 August 2010
Urban & Country Leisure to launch its first hotel

Pub operator Urban & Country Leisure (UCL) has unveiled plans to expand into the small hotel market with the launch of a boutique hotel called The Lazy Cow.

The firm, run by former Bar Room Bar owner Ross Sanders, has spent £1.5m on revamping the former Globe Hotel in Warwick into The Lazy Cow hotel and pub/restaurant as part of an aggressive two-year expansion plan that will include a further 10 hotels.

UCL currently operates 14 pub/restaurants across the UK and in January announced aims to grow its estate to 30 pubs over the next two years as part of a £10m investment programme. However that figure has since grown to £15m to accommodate the independent operator's move into the hotel sector.

Sanders said The Lazy Cow is the first of what he hopes to establish as a chain of "small, intimate, stylish boutique hotels".

"Our aim is to provide the best possible accommodation offering to the tourist, business and destination weekend break markets. It's a natural progression and extension of our existing UCL blueprint and plans, which we have successfully rolled out over the last two years across our estate with our quality pub restaurants," he added.

The Lazy Cow, currently in the build phase and expected to open in October, will comprise 16 individually designed bedrooms, each featuring Apple iPads, 32-inch flatscreen HD TVs, Wi-Fi and iPods.

In addition, guests will be encouraged to take home the hotel's bathrobes, towels and branded toiletries from the "Lazy Cow Swag Bags", and have access to a fleet of "quirky" bicycles on which to explore the city.

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By Janie Stamford

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