Work will finally start next month on a luxury hotel and apartment complex in Gwynedd. Perimeter hoardings are starting to appear at the former Whitehouse Hotel site in Abersoch, on the Llŷn Peninsula, with equipment due to move on site from August 21.
When, as planned, spades go in the ground on September 4, it will end a decade-long gestation for the prestige £30m project. Ownership changes and the Covid pandemic caused delays, while the presence of nesting birds prevented a planned start this spring.
Charles Openshaw, development director at Providence Gate Holdings, is targeting a “soft” opening in January 2025. This will be followed by an official launch in late February 2025 once initial kinks have been ironed out. The Abersoch Hotel will have 42 bedrooms, plus 18 luxury residential apartments on the top two floors.
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Costing up to £1.45 million when the plans were launched in 2021, the apartments were billed as offering "unparalleled luxury". Mr Openshaw said plans have been since revised in the wake of the staycation boom. Several will now become part of the hotel and offered for rent rather than sale.
“In the current market, bringing them back into the hotel is more attractive than offering them as private residences,” he said. “Everything is 100% funded and we’re looking at an 18-month build.”
Until 2016 the site was occupied by the Whitehouse Hotel, which closed its doors in 2004. Planning consent for a hotel and apartments was approved at the second attempt in 2015 following an online petition set up by supportive locals.
In early 2020 Providence Gate took on the site from Broomco Whitehouse Ltd with plans to start work that year. The pandemic intervened and more delays resulted as the developer needed updated permissions in the wake of the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire.
A new start date was scheduled for spring 2023 only for nesting birds to be discovered on site. “It meant no work could be undertaken between March and August,” said Mr Openshaw, who has a long-standing affinity with Pen Llŷn through annual holidays. “I was fine with that as these things are important – we’ve built a bat house at the site already.”
When finished, the hotel will be operated by Bespoke Hotels with concierge service for guests. It will have a “destination restaurant” and bar with sea-view terraces, with function facilities, gym and a spa. The latter includes a swimming pool, treatment rooms and thermal suite.
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The hotel will be open 365 days every year, confirmed Mr Openshaw. By bringing visitors to Abersoch during winter, he hopes the hotel will extend the area’s tourism season to a year-round offer.
“If we have, say, 120 guests staying, they won’t be using our restaurant every night but will be sampling the local hospitality," he said. "By opening up the close season, it will bring life to the village all year-round.”
Where possible, local tradespeople and contractors will be used during construction, and employed once the hotel is up and running. Mr Openshaw said it will have a distinctly Welsh theme to set it apart from generic hotel chains.
“That will be the emphasis,” he said. “We want to show we have our roots embedded in Wales. We’ll have local suppliers, from farmers and food producers, so we can serve local beef, lobster and so on.
“We’ll also be supporting local artists, with work hung on walls and perhaps a mini gallery. We’ll be doing everything we can to support businesses in the village.”
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