THE Kinderton Hotel is close to full restoration now as the owners have launched the new menu and announced that they are taking room bookings.

The Kinderton reopened in July after Shaun Ellison bought the hotel just as it was about to be sold to developers after closing on June, 18.

Shaun said: “We are coming up to three months now since we took over the reins at the Kinderton, to say it has been a steep learning curve would be somewhat of an understatement, but we are getting there.

“We had four initial priorities after settling in over the first couple of weeks, one was to build a new team to help us achieve our overall objectives, secondly to get the restaurant fully open, thirdly to re-open the hotel and lastly to focus on Christmas, we have quickly realised that in this industry planning well ahead is a must.

The Kinderton recently announced the new menu which Shaun has accredited to his new kitchen staff.

He said: “Team wise we have had great success, we were able to recruit local head chef Ian Verrechia who in turn has then recruited his own kitchen team. “

“The restaurant is now fully open and feedback from customers so far has been very positive. Ian has created a wide choice menu which importantly provides a number of options for those suffering from coeliac disorder and we plan to introduce even more gluten free dishes in the near future.

“Next on the list was the hotel, it has been all hands to the pump to refurb a number of the rooms to get them ready to be re-opened.

“With a team of dedicated local tradesmen and some very long days and nights we were finally able to open part of the hotel on the September,5.

“We now have 7 of the 10 rooms open and bookings are coming in nicely, again feedback so far has been excellent.”

Shaun would also like to thank the community for the support during this transitional period.

He added: “Support from the local community from day one has been fantastic which we are very grateful for, we hope everyone realises we are learning as we go and we won’t get everything right first time, so our message would be to please continue to bear with us.

“We are determined though to give Middlewich an event venue which it can be proud of and ensure that all customers have a great experience whenever they visit.