A Lake District inn is celebrating its fifth anniversary this week.
The North East-based Inn Collection Group bought the Queen’s Hotel in Ambleside in 2019 and carried out a nine-month multi-million-pound transformation.
It was officially opened on December 2 of that year by England rugby international Mark Wilson and springer spaniel sensations Max, Paddy & Harry.
Since it opened, it has welcomed 52,000 overnight sleepers and served over 150,000 meals, including more than 13,000 portions of fish & chips and burgers.
The bar has also been quenching the thirst of visitors, with over 180,000 pints served across the top five drinks alone.
Looking back at the last half decade, the group’s CEO Sean Donkin said: “The Ambleside Inn was a landmark opening for The Inn Collection Group and was our first venue to open in the Lake District, which had long been a prime focus destination for our company.
“The opening marked the end of a long chapter searching for the right unit in a winning location to add to our estate and it would be fair to say it was a transformational moment for us as a group.
“The Lakes has proven to be one of the keys to our growth with there now being 10 inns across the national park.”
Since those first steps, The Inn Collection Group has carried out nine multi-million-pound refurbishments with a 10th about to begin at Grasmere’s Wordsworth Hotel.
It said overnight visitors staying with The Inn Collection Group were estimated to have contributed more than £100m to the Cumbrian economy since 2019.
Employing a total of 225 people in a mix of full and part-time roles, there has also been significant investment into infrastructure and support programmes to tackle the well-document recruitment challenges within the tourism industry.
Most prominent has been the creation of affordable, high-quality staff accommodation either through the refurbishment or conversion of existing properties or purpose-built new facilities as at The Swan in Grasmere.
Sean added: “Coming into the Lake District, it was important for us to ember ourselves into the community and we’ve strived to do that and let actions speak.
“We’re proud of investments into our people and creating opportunities for local people to think about hospitality as genuine career prospect and of our refurbishments of renowned and much-loved establishments.
“They have not only preserved historic properties but given them new leases of life and given them positive long-term futures.
“We’re also delighted that our inns have looked to involve themselves in local life and support causes like Patterdale Primary School, Ambleside Parish Centre and Coniston’s Christmas Lights to name just a few.
“It has been a huge journey for The Inn Collection Group in general and in the Lakes in particular and I look forward to our relationship continuing to grow.”
