UK: Lincoln’s first aparthotel opened its doors to guests on Good Friday.
Birchover Residences, which has been operating for 22 years in Derby and Nottingham, selected Lincoln as its next destination, thanks to introductions made through the area’s Team Lincolnshire ambassador programme.
The new-build aparthotel, which is situated on the waterfront at One The Brayford, will offer 11 apartments, with modern interiors, free WiFi and Smart TV, many with views over the water. A 24 hour concierge service will also be provided.
Back in 2017 the Greater Lincolnshire LEP commissioned a hotel study to ascertain the demand for additional hotel accommodation across the county. As well as identifying a need for more hotels overall, the study identified a lack of aparthotels.
The hotel study, which was shared with Team Lincolnshire member Roythornes Solicitors, prompted an introductory meeting between Carl Bridge – managing director of The Birchover Residences – and the Greater Lincolnshire LEP, which assisted in identifying a local developer who could provide some suitable sites for a new hotel. One The Brayford, with its waterside and city views, combined with dynamic modern architecture proved to be the ideal location.
Carl Bridge said: “We are thrilled to be opening our latest apartment-hotel in Lincoln. The Birchover Residences at One The Brayford opened on Good Friday, the 19th April 2019. Our research had shown that the city has a vibrant tourist economy, allied to a very strong business sector, supported by the University of Lincoln. What we hadn’t counted on was how friendly and supportive the business community would be.
“Lisa Cawdron and Jo Ladds from our solicitors Roythornes made an initial introduction to Nicola Shepheard, senior growth officer of the Greater Lincolnshire LEP. Nicola was proactive and enthusiastic about our plans to open in the city and quickly identified several potential locations for us. As soon as I saw One The Brayford I knew that this was the place for us. Located on the waterfront at Brayford Wharf, it’s a fabulous setting and has the added bonus of being surrounded by a range of great restaurants, bars, the cinema and only a few minutes from the main city centre thoroughfare. We’re looking forward to working closely with the restaurants in particular, because we’ll be recommending that our guests take a stroll along the promenade for a meal in this lovely setting. Visit Lincoln and major employers have already been strong advocates of us and we’ve seen from the tremendous response from our own customer database that this is somewhere people will flock to stay at. We’ve had dozens of bookings in the first couple of days and bookings for the Easter weekend were very strong.”</p
