The Coventry Telegraph has reported that a developer has purchased the Chase Hotel with a view to bringing it back to life as a quality hotel. Telegraph reporter, Danny Thomspson, writes…..
The company that has purchased a beloved Coventry hotel has revealed it plans to spend millions of pounds returning the site to its former glory. The Chace Hotel on London Road has sat unused since it closed in 2021.
There were plans to turn the historic venue into a mental health facility, an idea which was eventually scrapped. It ended up being bought at auction late last year for around £1.5million by a company called OpticRealm Ltd.
The company has a track record of saving old buildings and redeveloping them – this is the fourth hotel on their books.
OpticRealm’s Tim Cockburn told CoventryLive: “All of our other hotels were in a similar situation – either closed, coming out of administration or really run down. We’ve been able to take them over and invest in them properly.
“We really like buildings like this. All of the buildings we own are listed, so we love that element. We also like the size of it and the area. We could really see how it fits in with all our other places.
“The idea is to bring it back as a hotel and return it to its former glory but we also like the idea that you can bring it back and give it a new feel and character.”
Regarding its current condition, Tim added: “It is going to be at least £4 million to do it up. When you go inside, what was done during the Laura Ashley phase was clearly done on a budget. It’s not great, so that’s not the plan. The plan is to spend money on it and get it looking right.”
The hotel has been an important part of the community for decades, and this is something Tim and his team are conscious of.
“It’s part of the fabric of the area,” he said. “People know it – they’ve been to weddings, parties or events there, everyone you speak to has a memory. We’re conscious of that and what to offer the community a place they can enjoy and be proud of again.”
As for time frames, Tim is hesitant to be specific, but with the scale of the renovation he has in mind, it could be a year before the reopening.
“It’s still too early to put an exact date on it,” he said. “We don’t like rushing things so we’re thinking maybe January 2027 – hopefully well before spring next year.”
Other hotels that are part of the portfolio include the Brownsover Hall Hotel in Rugby, the Bedford Swan Hotel and Hotel Cromwell in Stevenage.
This article is copied from the Coventry Live website, dated 3/2/2026.