Arise the Chester Hospitality Association

Early this month, a group of Chester Hoteliers gathered for a lunch at the Townhouse Hotel in Lower Bridge Street to look at forming the first Chester Hospitality Association for the City to ensure the private sector hospitality businesses within Chester City Centre and vicinity have a voice and a lead within the wider realms of the Council, Local Enterprise Partnership, Marketing Cheshire and also strengthen the links into the national UK Hospitality Association.

Key Individuals from The Townhouse, Mercure Abbots Well, DoubleTree Chester, The Queens, Holiday Inn Express, Chester Race Course, Rowton Hall, The Chapel and Oakwood Farm Mews met over lunch and discussed key concerns facing the Visitor Economy within the local region of Chester City Centre. Further interest has been shown from Chester Grosvenor, Holiday Inn, Abode Chester, McDonald Blossoms, The Carden Arms who couldn’t attend the inaugural event.

September has now been scheduled as the next meeting where a board will be formerly arranged and the Association is keen to engage further Hotels, Restaurants, Bars & Attractions within the City to become involved and be heard.

Steven Hesketh, CEO of Savvy Hotels and owner of the Townhouse invited the group together, and states: “I have venues in both Liverpool & Chester, and over the past few years, I have seen from my involvement in the Liverpool Visitor Economy scene, real successes in the private sector working collectively with the Combined Authority, Liverpool LEP, Marketing Liverpool and alike to ensure Liverpool continues to flourish in attracting visitors to the region.”

He adds: “Unfortunately I don’t feel the same has occurred in Chester, and I believe that the Visitor Economy in Chester has lost some momentum and we as the private sector must step up. I note our own successes at The Townhouse & 1699 Brasserie, to the growing successes of The Race Course to The Chefs Table, from the Chester Market to Sticky Walnut in Hoole – Chester is a visitor’s delight and we can’t fall behind the competition as a great City to visit. Tourism has surged in the UK in the last decade and is now the 3rd biggest private sector employer in the UK, creating a staggering 10% of the UK employment and 5% of GDP.”  

The discussions around the table included the exciting new venues and attractions recently coming to the City and those in the pipeline. It was noted some great work by Marketing Cheshire and Chester BID, however also acknowledged more was needed to be done and funding was clearly an issue for all. The recent news of a UK Tourism Sector Deal was also noted that Central Government were finally catching up to understanding what an exciting, growing important sector the Visitor Economy is and Chester stands prime to be a key unique small UK City to tap into these opportunities.

The group has a new twitter account set up: @CH1Hospitality and a website is in development: www.chesterhospitalityassociation.com

Anyone interested in joining the association and attending the next meeting on 12th September is asked to contact: [email protected]