HUNDREDS of people have applied for jobs at the new Premier Inn hotel on Blackburn’s fast-developing Cathedral Quarter.

Landscaping work is under way and stonemasons and plumbers are hard at work catching up with previous delays on the suite of clergy accommodation complete with cloister garden.

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Dean of Blackburn Christopher Armstrong is delighted with the speed of work on the £34 million redevelopment in the centre of the town – complete with the new hotel and office block.

He said: “The project is roaring ahead. It’s very exciting and a bit scary.

“The clergy accommodation looks great and from the railway station side you can see the Cathedral Square taking shape.”

Church authorities have taken advantage of the scaffolding around the cathedral to undertake more than £300,000 of ‘high-level’ repairs to its north and south transepts.

The cash for the work came from a special government grant from the First World War Centenary Cathedral Repair Fund.

The Premier Inn held a recruitment open day at the nearby Blackburn Youth Zone on Jubilee Street last week as it seeks to take on up to 60 staff.

Blackburn with Darwen regeneration boss Phil Riley said: “The recruitment for the Premier Inn is going really well.

“Hundreds of young people have expressed an interest at the open day and through the local job centres.

“Premier Inn have shown a real commitment to employing the young people in the borough who really need jobs .”

A giant heap of spoil on the front of the development and the Adelphi public house will be used to complete landscaping work between the Cathedral and Railway Road.

Benches are being placed around Queen Victoria’s statue which is nearly ready to have its restored right arm attached.

Turf is being laid for the lawned area prior to the planting of trees and shrubs once the paving works are completed.