Signature Living to open two new hotels before the end of the year

Signature Living has officially opened the Grade II-listed Rainhill Hall, and plans to open a second hotel before the end of the year.

The second property is expected to be announced this week.

Rainhill Hall is located near St Helens, Merseyside, and officially opened as a hotel last week. The property briefly opened under Signature Living as a wedding venue last year with 10 bedrooms. Work has been ongoing this year and it now has 42 bedrooms.

The house was built in 1824 by landowner Bartholomew Bretherton and was a family home until 1923, when it was sold to the Jesuits who renamed it Loyola Hall and turned into a retreat centre.

After World War II a chapel was adde, as well as 50 en suite rooms for residential visitors. It was closed in 2014 and bought by Signature Living three years later, with St Helens Council giving approval for its transformation into a hotel and wedding venue in 2018.

Signature Living has added 14 rooms on the lower-ground floor, a function room and spa. The upper-ground floor has 10 bedrooms as well as function rooms, restaurant and dining facilities, a bar and a reception area. Tree houses have also been built in the site’s 18-acre woodland.

Lawrence Kenwright, co-owner and founder of Signature Living, said: “It’s an exciting time for Signature Living. The fact that we are opening Rainhill Hall after such a difficult year is a testament to our entire staff. They have worked with me literally day and night to keep our business alive, to bring forward schemes and to be able to continue to deliver amazing experiences for our customers under the strictest of social distancing measures. So, it’s great that by opening Rainhill Hall we have created a further 70 jobs.”

Meanwhile, according to administration documents filed with Companies House for Signature Living Hotel, which owns the freehold for Signature Living's Shankly hotel and several other properties in Liverpool and fell into administration earlier this year, administrators plan to sell the freehold of the property. It is also hoped the company’s boat moored in Portugal, which was set to become a ‘floating party hotel’, will be sold rather than scrapped.

Signature Living’s 30 James Street hotel in Liverpool and the Exchange hotel in Cardiff also fell into administration earlier this year. 30 James Street has reopened under the management of Legacy Hotels, while investors in Cardiff's former Signature Living Exchange hotel are hoping to reopen the property once coronavirus restrictions in Wales are less stringent. The Cavern Walks site Signature Living had earmarked for hotel development is in receivership.

The group’s Shankly hotel in Preston; Dixie Dean, Rainhill Hall, Stanley Street hotel and Alma de Cuba in and around Liverpool; and Waring hotel in Belfast are not affected by the administrations.