STAFF from the Bolton Whites Hotel brought the summer to Bolton business parks with an impromptu visit from their ice cream van.

The launch of the “card for a cone” initiative saw the hotel offer free ice creams in return for their business cards, to encourage Christmas party bookings at their stadium venue.

Sales manager Laura Thompson said: “We had a really great day and managed to deliver over 300 ice creams to workers across Bolton.

“We like to do things differently and thought the ice cream van was a really fun and different way of engaging with prospective customers.

“We appreciate that Christmas might still be quite far away but our events fill up so quickly and we like to make sure that people book early to avoid disappointment.

“We think this is quite a unique and interesting way of getting businesses to keep us in mind when planning their Christmas parties.”

The team from Stephensons Solicitors were just one of the businesses whose team swapped their cards for a cone.

Partner at Stephensons Solicitors LLP, Victoria Melling, said: “As a busy Bolton business ourselves, it is a welcome light relief to have a visit from the ice cream van, so we'd like to thank Bolton Whites Hotel for cooling down our staff.

“We often host our seminars and social events at the hotel, due to the impressive standard of conferencing and events suites on offer and the close proximity to our office at Middlebrook.”