Twenty new full and part-time jobs have been created within Belfast’s hospitality sector as the Malone Lodge Hotel reaches completion on its extensive renovation and extension project including comprehensive meeting, food and beverage, accommodation and wedding opportunities for business and leisure guests. This concludes a 12 month project to re-position the hotel alongside many of the top hotels in Belfast.
On Friday 31st May the 119 room complex, which is located on Malone’s Eglantine Avenue, was officially reopened by Dame Mary Peters DBE LL with Deputy Lord Mayor of Belfast, Tierna Cunningham, and numerous friends, suppliers and corporate clients, who have been heavily involved with the hotel over the years, also in attendance.
To mark this special opening, Dame Mary Peters unveiled a celebratory plaque in the new Deramore Suite – a 240 seat ballroom designed to accommodate the wedding, conferencing and events markets.
The development, which was carried out by founder Brian Macklin, is the latest investment into the hotel since its foundation in 1991 and reflects the Macklin family’s long term strategy to invest in key markets and projects that will contribute to Northern Ireland’s hospitality landscape.
The South Belfast hotel which has been in receipt of many prestigious accolades including Belfast Hotel of the Year and Northern Ireland Tourist Board’s Highly Distinguished Hotel, has added a new executive wing to its accommodation offering, including two new presidential suites. To accommodate the increased flow of visitors an underground carpark has been built on site which will provide a total of 75 parking spaces.
A significant portion of the investment has been put into creating modern, state-of-the-art meeting and exhibition space which, in addition to the Deramore Suite, includes numerous rooms to accommodate small intimate meetings through to large banquets of up to 240 guests.
The expansion of the food and drink offering has seen the hotel introduce a new standalone 90 seater, full service deli and grill restaurant, aptly named ‘The Knife and Fork’. This is the most significant change in the development which will be welcome news for locals and visitors alike who can avail of a menu serving exclusively locally sourced food from suppliers such as East Coast Seafood, North Down Group and Thompson’s Teas.
The refurbishment also includes the new ‘Malone Suite’ – a purpose built civil ceremony suite which can accommodate weddings of up to 120 people and compliments the hugely popular wedding facilities. This is to build on the hotel’s excellent reputation for weddings as the previous winner of NI Wedding Venue of the Year.
Director of the Malone Lodge Hotel, Cara Macklin commented:
“We are thrilled to announce the reopening of the hotel and are excited to unveil a range of new services and enhancements which we believe compliment the existing building perfectly. Today’s opening underpins our commitment to strengthen our contribution to Belfast’s hospitality industry and we will continue to play an integral role in continuing to attract business and leisure visitors to the city.
“The redevelopment will provide a range of services that meet the needs of all our guests and visitors while creating a further 20 jobs, bringing the total of staff employed across the hotel to 75. We would like to thank everyone who has supported and contributed to the project with particular thanks to all our team. We are delighted to welcome back all of our existing clients as well as many new faces and hope to welcome many new guests throughout the remainder of 2013 and beyond.”
Visit Malone lodge website here
