THE Village Hotel and leisure club in Prestwich has welcomed aboard Richard Grey as their new manager.

And one of the 56-year-old's first tasks will be to oversee a £500,000 refurbishment of the popular George Street establishment.

Richard comes to the Village Hotel from the De Vere Daresbury Park Hotel in Warrington where he was the manager for 11 years. He has been in the hotel business all his working life.

Having started out as a chef in Coventry at 16, he quickly rose through the ranks and held the high profile position of banqueting manager at the Piccadilly in Manchester.

He joined Greenalls 28 years ago and has had plenty of opportunity to gain a wealth of experience through his management of hotels in St Helens, Shropshire, Rhyl and Cheshire before taking over the reins at Daresbury Park Hotel where he oversaw a huge £12 million refurbishment programme.

Richard said: "My initial project will be to manage the complete refurbishment of some of our bedrooms alongside the bar and restaurant area. This is a major undertaking which will take an investment of £500,000 to complete and I hope that as a result we will be able to create further job opportunities within the Prestwich area. We have a great leisure club here at Prestwich."

There are 14 Village Hotels and leisure clubs situated throughout the UK.