Coaching Inn Group acquires Castle Hotel in Conway


The Coaching Inn Group has acquired the four-AA-star, 27-bedroom Castle hotel in Conway, two days since announcing that it had secured a new £10m investment from the Business Growth Fund (BGF).

Located on the site of a Cistercian abbey, the 300-year-old hotel has been bought for £3.35m from Peter Lavin and Graham Tinsley, who have owned the property since 2000.

It marks the fourth acquisition in 2016 for the group which received an initial £4.5m investment from the BGF in March 2015 to grow via a £50m expansion plan to 25 hotels by 2019. The company currently has 13 historic properties.

Kevin Charity, chief executive of the Coaching Inn Group, said the company is on track to complete the purchase of further two properties by the end of its financial year in March 2017.

“The Castle hotel has all the attributes we are looking for in future properties, which include a busy market town location and a business that will appeal to locals as well as visitors from further afield,” he explained.

“The hotel has been successfully run for the past 16 years as a family business and we plan to continue in the same vain, with hotel manager Joe Lavin, the son of the previous owner, continuing to lead the existing team.