Inn Collection Group announces plans to more than double headcount

Pubs with rooms business the Inn Collection Group has announced plans to more than double its headcount from 900 to almost 2,000.

The group has undergone rapid expansion since 2019 and is set to see its trading premises grow by almost a third this calendar year as refurbishments are completed across venues in Cumbria, Lancashire, North Wales, North Yorkshire and Tyne & Wear.

The business said some of the positions will be to assemble a team at Harrogate’s Hotel St George, where the company had recently been forced to announce redundancies.

It said that problems within the construction industry and associated supply chain having a knock-on effect on refurbishments left the company with “no option but to make those cuts at the time to secure the long-term future for the site, but now sees the group looking to the future as those difficulties ease”.

As sites in the Lake District and North Yorkshire gear up for a spring reopening, applications are being invited for wide range of roles including general and assistant managers, head chefs and front of house.

The Inn Collection Group’s people director Liz Robertson said: “It is an exciting time for the Inn Collection Group with so many sites coming back from refurbishment and recruiting their reopening teams.

“It is a real source of pride that we are looking to expand our people base and that we can offer rewarding positions in great locations with a fantastic company.

“Some positions are being recruited for the very first time by the group, such as the general manager role at our Betws-y-Coed property the Swallow Falls Inn, while some like the general manager role at the Temperance Inn in Ambleside are because we've seen internal progression of colleagues developing and moving into new roles within the group.”

The group’s managing director Sean Donkin added: “We have significantly strengthened our head office people support team in the last 12 months and have invested in several support structures too, demonstrating our commitment to our teams and determination to offer high-quality jobs.

“That will continue going forward and we will be communicating details of the significant investment we have been making recently with regards to staff accommodation as we aim to remove barriers that prevent people forging their path in hospitality.”

The Inn Collection Group is owned by the Harris Family Trusts, supported with banking from OakNorth. After the completion of the refurbishment programme, the group will have 32 sites open and operational.