Morans to buy Bewley Hotels

INDEPENDENT Irish hotel group Moran Hotels has agreed terms to buy the Bewleys Hotel chain for an undisclosed sum.

A spokesperson for the Moran group confirmed yesterday that it had agreed a deal with Slaney Meats — which owns Bewleys Hotels — and that the takeover included all of the Bewleys hotel properties in Ireland and Britain. They added that no further details would be divulged until after staff from both groups were informed.

Moran operates two four-star hotels here — the Red Cow complex in Dublin (which was originally a pub and when bought by the group became famous for being the first million-pound selling pub in Ireland) and Cork’s Silver Springs Hotel, ranked as having one of the largest conference facilities in the Irish market.

It also owns two four-star facilities in London — the Chiswick Moran Hotel and the Crown Moran Hotel in Cricklewood — the latter opening just last year after the group bought and refurbished a run-down office building and the former having been an extension to one of the pubs group founder Tom Moran managed during a 15-year career in the hospitality sector in London.

The new deal will further expand the Moran Group’s presence in the British and Dublin markets. The Bewleys group of hotels include two English-based properties — at Manchester Airport and in Leeds city centre. The group also operates four hotels in Ireland — at Leopardstown in south Dublin, in the leafy Dublin suburb of Ballsbridge, at Newland’s Cross also in the outskirts of the capital and at Dublin Airport.

It is not clear at present what Moran’s expansion plans are regarding its operations both here and in Britain.