Hotels group Crest completes the £1.25m refurbishment of a Merseyside hotel. Tony McDonough reports

Crest Hotels Group has invested £1,25m in an upgrade of the former Holiday Inn Express Liverpool Knowsley.

In 2019 Crest spent £1m revamping the 86 rooms and corridors of the hotel, close to the Liverpool-Knowsley border just outside Kirkby. Now it has completed the £250,000 upgrade of the lounge, dining areas and breakfast space.

And it has now rebranded the hotel as the Knowsley Inn & Lounge. Crest operates eight hotels across England and Wales. It offers 626 bedrooms and employs more than 400 people.

To mark the completion of the refurbishment and the unveiling of the new brand, VIPs including the High Sheriff of Merseyside, Lesley Martin-Wright, were invited to an exclusive event and official ribbon cutting.

Lindsay Jones, general manager at the Knowsley Inn & Lounge, said: “The hotel has been part of the Crest Hotels portfolio for 20 years. This move away from being a badged property has really allowed us to put our own stamp on the property.

“It felt the right time to operate the hotel independently now as part of the Crest Group which has evolved over the years and which has a highly experienced managerial team in situ to really drive forward with this property.

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“We’ve introduced a Starbucks concession for coffee and improved and increased our overall food and beverage offering with a new all-day dining menu, as well as an extensive drinks and cocktail menu.”

Located at junction 4 of the M57 at Knowsley Business Park, Knowsley Lounge & Inn has three meeting rooms, and a restaurant with a bar.  

Lesley Martin-Wright added: “This hotel has played a pivotal role in boosting visitor numbers to Knowsley and the surrounding areas for nearly two decades under the Crest Hotels Group. We are extremely thankful to them for their continued support.”