A leading UK "pub with rooms" group is set to reopen pubs across the region - and will bring hundreds of jobs with them when they do.  

The Inn Collection Group is re-opening 12 of its prime sites and hopes to trigger a recruitment drive that will create almost 1,000 additional jobs across the north of England and Wales.

Extensive refurbishments are currently being completed across venues in North Yorkshire, Tyne & Wear, and Cumbria, as well as at properties in Lancashire and North Wales.

One of the pubs set to recruit staff is the Harrogate’s Hotel St George, where the company had recently been forced to announce redundancies.

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Already employing 900 people across its network of pub-with-rooms properties, filling the positions created by these re-openings will see the company headcount increase to almost 2,000 people.

In the North East, some of the Inn Collection Group's properties are: 

  • The Northallerton In, Northallerton
  • Bamburgh Castle Inn, Northumberland
  • Seaburn Inn, Tyne & Wear
  • The Tynemouth Castle, North Tyneside 

Problems within the construction industry's supply chains having a knock-on effect on refurbishments left The Inn Collection Group with no option but to make those cuts at the time to secure the long-term future for the site, but now sees the group looking to the future as those difficulties ease.

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Sean Donkin started in a front-line position before advancing through the company.

Starting out as a general manager at The Bamburgh Castle Inn, in Northumberland, in 2008, he worked his way through to operations director before taking on the managing directorship in 2018 and boasts more than 20 years of experience in the trade.

Mr Donkin said: “Making the hospitality industry one in which people can see themselves long-term and where they can build a career is incredibly important not just to the company, but to me personally as well.

“It is an incredibly rewarding business where making people happy is the key focus, something which drives us not only in how we want our customers to feel with us but our people too.”

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Speaking on the recruitment of new members of the Inn Collection Group team, people director Liz Robertson said: “It is an exciting time for The Inn Collection Group with so many sites coming back from refurbishment and recruiting their re-opening teams.

“It is a real source of pride that we are looking to expand our people base and that we can offer rewarding positions in great locations with a fantastic company.

“Some positions are being recruited for the very first time, whilst some are because we've seen internal progression of colleagues developing and moving into new roles within ICG.”