£15m County Durham boutique hotel re-opens with support of £20m investment fund

Global boutique hotel chain IHG Hotel Indigo successfully reopened its £15m hotel and restaurant in Durham City with help from business support service Business Durham.

Hotel Indigo’s 4-star boutique hotel is set within the iconic Grade II listed Shire Hall, which originally opened in 2018 after undergoing a £15m refurbishment.

Established by Durham County Council in 2017, Finance Durham is a £20m investment fund overseen by Business Durham and managed by Maven Capital Partners, to help businesses to accelerate growth in the county. Since it was launched the fund has invested over £6.8m into 16 businesses across County Durham.

The fund provides debt and equity funding to support businesses of all sizes from a variety of sectors, and is aimed at companies looking to scale up, create jobs and add economic prosperity in County Durham.

In addition to the Finance Durham Fund business loan, Hotel Indigo also accessed support from the Durham Business Recovery Grant scheme towards implementing its recovery plan which included creating an alfresco dining area to the front and side of the building.

Launched by Durham County Council in January 2021, the Durham Business Recovery Grant was aimed at businesses that had experienced a significant adverse impact from Covid and had a credible plan to adapt and recover.

Tom Orange, general manager at Hotel Indigo said: “The funding from Finance Durham allowed us to maintain and protect our Hotel during the hard closure, it allowed us to have a core team on site ensuring that day to day checks were carried out as well as making sure core equipment was serviced in readiness for an opening date.”

Cllr James Rowlandson, cabinet member for Resources, Investment and Assets at Durham County Council, said: “We’re delighted to be able to ensure a prestige brand like Hotel Indigo remains in Durham City and can continue to grow and thrive.”

Michael Dickens, investment manager at Maven, said: “We’re delighted to support such a unique and prestigious project from development through to the opening and running of the hotel itself.”