FIFTY jobs have been saved after a north Essex company took over Colchester’s George Hotel.

The Surya Group moved quickly to buy the 500-year-old High Street property from the troubled Grangeside Ltd, which has sold a number of hotels around the country to pay debts.

If the Surya Group had not bought the George, it would have been vulnerable and looked likely to fall into the hands of a company which could have sold it as an asset, throwing the hotel’s future into doubt.

Suki Dulai, chief executive of the Surya Group, based in Tendring, said: “Of Grangeside’s portfolio, the one we were interested in was the George.

“We moved to Colchester from London in 1994, so it is home, and this is our local hotel.

“Investment hasn’t been put into the hotel so it has slipped back over the years.

“An asset management company was in to buy it, so we had to buy it very quickly, otherwise the hotel would have been stripped or redeveloped.”

Negotiations began on Friday morning and concluded by the end of the day, which Mr Dulai said was one of the quickest purchases the company had ever made.

It means the group now has eight hotels – including the Duke’s Head Hotel, in King’s Lynn, and the Mill, in Sudbury – and employs 750 people in north east Essex.

Mr Dulai, whose background is in food importing, plans to give the George a facelift and bring it up to date.

As well as the common areas, such as the bar, restaurant, reception and function rooms, each of the 47 bedrooms will be refurbished.

The refurbishment will cost £1.5million. 

Mr Dulai added: “We are very excited about being involved and want to bring the hotel back to its former glory.

“We want to keep the essence and character of the George and that means making it a place everybody can enjoy.” No timescale for the work - which will cost about £1.5million - to start has been set.

The group has not revealed how much was spent on buying the hotel. 

  • Work is set to begin on the company’s other Colchester project, One Castle Park, in two weeks.

The scheme, in Museum Street, opposite Colchester Castle, will incorporate a cafe or restaurant downstairs, with an exposed portion of Roman wall.

Luxury apartments are planned for the upper floors.