Iconic Liverpool building to return to a hotel

The iconic North Western Hall in Liverpool is to be brought back as a hotel by its new owners Worthington Properties.

Formerly the North Western Hotel, the Grade II listed building was one of the founding family of ‘grand railway hotels’, which also included The Midland in Manchester, St Pancras in London and The Balmoral in Edinburgh.

In recent years, the Renaissance style building has served as student accommodation after being bought by John Moores University in 1996.

Now in the ownership of the Worthington Group, it is anticipated the site will be returned to its former status, subject to planning, as a landmark hotel by mid-2019.

Jeremy Collins, director of Jenics, said: “The hotel market in Liverpool has developed significantly over the last three years, largely due to both the growing popularity of the city’s tourist and leisure market and an improving commercial sector.

“The central location of the North Western Hall is close to Liverpool’s major attractions including Albert Dock, Liverpool One, the Tate Gallery, the Beatles Story, Echo Arena, the Cavern Quarter, Liverpool Cruise Terminal and the CBD.”

He added: “Having Liverpool Lime Street Station literally on the doorstep is another obvious benefit for an hotel operator, with annual passenger traffic of more than 20 million people.”

It is anticipated the North Western Hall will attract interest from budget and apart-hotel operators through to full service providers.

Collins said: “The plans for accommodation are suitable for all types of operators, with room numbers ranging from 180 for full service and up to 230 limited service budget providers. As a purpose built hotel, re-tuning this iconic site to an hotel operation is an efficient refurbishment exercise that adds to the cost effectiveness and speed of delivery of the site.

“With the property in excellent condition and a supportive city council behind the proposals we are expecting high levels of interest.”