Lansdowne hotel closed over health and safety concerns

The Lansdowne hotel in Belfast has closed due to "immediate health and safety concerns".

The 25-bedroom hotel, which is owned by Metro Inns, was closed last week for "major refurbishment" and all staff made redundant. The refurbishment was originally scheduled for the summer but was brought forward following an environmental inspection.

It is not known for how long the hotel will be closed, and Metro Inns' future ownership was also called into question for when the hotel does reopen.

A statement from the hotel said the hotel's Northern Ireland regional director had been suffering from serious ill health since last summer, which had an impact on the standards at the hotel.

A statement from the hotel said: "On 11 April 2018, the Lansdowne hotel called an emergency meeting with all staff members to inform them that effective immediately the hotel would be shut for major refurbishment. This refurbishment was originally scheduled for early summer but had to be brought forward due to immediate health and safety concerns following a recent environmental inspection.

"Due to the seriousness of the safety issues involved, extensive investigations and work will have to be carried out and as such, it is impossible to judge the length of closure of the business. Due to this, all staff have to be laid off and when the hotel reopens for operation, those staff members will automatically be contacted to resume their duties.

"The Northern Ireland regional director has suffered from serious ill health since summer 2017 and this has had an impact on the level of standard at the Lansdowne hotel. Due to the director's ongoing issues, they will step down formally from their role and will not be continuing at the Lansdowne hotel in the future. At this time, it is not known if the Lansdowne hotel, when reopened, will operate under its former Metro Inns banner."

Metro Inns bought the Lansdowne hotel in 2012 for £700,000 after the hotel went into administration under the ownership of the Welcome Group. Newcastle-based Metro Inns has six other hotels in the UK.

Get The Caterer every week on your smartphone, tablet, or even in good old-fashioned hard copy (or all three!).