A FORMER hotel which has been falling into disrepair in the middle of Swindon could soon be given a new lease of life.

The Menzies Hotel, in Islington Street, closed suddenly last November after its owners went into administration.

Since then it has been the target of vandals and squatters but now a company has been appointed to find a new tenant and bring the hotel back into use.

Ignis Asset Management and UK Commercial Property Trust, which own the property, have instructed chartered surveyor CDLH, which specialises in the leisure industry, to find a company which could potentially run the hotel.

The responsibility of dealing with the letting lies with Alan Creedy, a director of CDLH, who believes the building is in the perfect location for a hotel.

He said: “The hotel has 95 en suite letting bedrooms, plus extensive function bar and restaurant provision.

“The property really does have a first class location at the heart of Swindon town centre, adjacent to the town centre car parks, opposite the main bus station and a very short walk to the train station.

“This is an ideal location for a hotel property.”

The hotel was formerly run by the Menzies Hotel Group but it suddenly closed down shortly before Christmas, with guests being asked to leave and 49 employees being made redundant.

The lease is being made available for £125,000 a year for a period of about 30 years.

Alan believes that the Swindon economy, combined with improvements in the hotel market, make the building a good investment.

“Swindon has a vibrant economy which has many large employers including Honda, Barclays, Mini and Nationwide and continues to see significant investment in retail and leisure,” he said.

“The UK hotel market has seen a significant resurgence, particularly over the last 12 months.

“As a result asset prices in London have risen to a point where there is very low return in investment.

“However, locations such as Swindon offer genuine opportunities to operators at more affordable levels and we have no doubt there will be considerable interest in this property.”

Full information on the property is available on CDLH’s website at www.cdlh.co.uk.