Waterhead Hotel Redevelopment Announcement

In November 2003, we temporarily closed the Waterhead Hotel at Ambleside to undertake a major redevelopment programme costing more than £3 million. The project represented a substantial investment in a property that had been part of English Lakes since its purchase in July 1975. The redevelopment was designed to transform Waterhead from a two-star, 27-bedroom hotel into a contemporary four-star property with 41 bedrooms. Rather than simply refurbishing the existing accommodation, the programme substantially changed the scale and positioning of the hotel, with the aim of reopening it as the Lake District's first four-star Town House Hotel. Work continued through the winter of 2003–04, with Waterhead reopening in April 2004. The closure therefore marked the beginning of one of the most extensive redevelopment projects undertaken at the hotel during our ownership.