Inn group lands £10m loan to double in size

The news comes as the group is set to open its latest venture, The Amble Inn, a 30-bedroom hotel, bar and restaurant, at noon on Monday.

OakNorth, the bank for entrepreneurs, by entrepreneurs, has provided a second loan to help the group more than double the size of its portfolio to 21 inns by 2022, creating numerous new jobs in the process.

The first loan, in June last year, enabled the business to open two new sites, including Amble, bringing its total portfolio to nine inns.

Since then, the accommodation provider has been sold to Alchemy Partners, the British private equity firm, which manages more than £1.8billion of assets.

Over the last 12 years, The Inn Collection Group has become a market leader in developing contemporary inns providing quality accommodation, food and drink to leisure and business customers.

It currently has 271 rooms across its nine sites but plans to increase this to almost 900, with the finance from both OakNorth and Alchemy.

Managing director Sean Donkin said: “It has been an incredible 12 months for The Inn Collection Group – we’ve secured backing from one of the UK’s most reputable private equity firms and have successfully secured two loans from OakNorth, a bank that prides itself on the high quality of its loan book.”

Stuart Blair, debt finance director at OakNorth, said: “The North East experienced record-breaking levels of tourism in 2018, according to figures from Visit England. We look forward to working with the group on their continued expansion in the future.

“Last year, we announced plans to hire three lending directors who will be based out of our Manchester office, specifically because we’re seeing more demand from businesses in the North of England.”