Lancashire firm adds to its hotel portfolio

The company has bought Cliffe-Norton Hotel, in Tenby, taking the number of hotels on its books to 22.

Leisureplex, sister company of coach holiday operator Alfa Travel, has been in business for more 30 years serving resorts throughout the country.

The Cliffe-Norton will be the group’s fourth hotel in Wales alongside the George IV Hotel, in Criccieth; Seabank Hotel, in Porthcawl, and Hydro Hotel in Llandudno.

Executive chairman of the Alfa Leisureplex Group, Paul Sawbridge, said: ‘We have long coveted this superb hotel which enables us to improve the standard we offer to our Alfa coach holiday customers visiting Tenby.

“Just as importantly, it helps us to accommodate the huge surge in demand we have experienced in recent years from other coach holiday operators.’

Leisureplex employs more than 100 people at its base in Euxton Lane, Chorley, and recently celebrated one year of being an employee-owned 
business.

Staff embarked on the changeover more than two years ago, and on July 1, 2015 finally made the transition to employee ownership.

The firm now claims to be the nly employee owned organisation of its kind in the country. The staff-backed buyout put control of the business into the hands of the workforce in a deal funded by Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking.

The Sawbridge family, who founded the businesses, sold 75 per cent of the specially formed holding company Alfa LeisureplexGroup to the company’s Employee Ownership Trust for an undisclosed sum.