THE final whistle of the football season will be the signal for work to start on the £12 million Whites Hotel, which is to be built inside Bolton Wanderers' Reebok Stadium.

When the last supporters leave in May the builders will move in to begin construction of the 125-bedroom four star hotel, featuring six penthouse suites with panoramic views over Bolton plus a restaurant and bedrooms overlooking the pitch.

Work on the luxurious seven-level complex is due to last between 16 and 18 months. When complete, Whites will stand alongside such famous names as The Belfry in the prestigious De Vere Group chain.

The hotel, which has already received planning approval and an alcohol licence, took a major step towards construction yesterday when a deal between Bolton Wanderers and Greenall Hotel and Leisure Ltd was announced by Burnden Leisure, the football club's parent company. Wanderers have invested £750,000 and will have an 80 per cent interest in a joint venture company that will construct and operate the hotel.

The deal is conditional on raising the necessary bank finance and approval of the shareholders of Burnden Leisure plc at an extraordinary general meeting in late April.

Whites - the name has been taken from the football club's famous shirts - will be in operation before the end of next year and will benefit from the conference and banqueting facilities and the exhibition hall, which are now in use at the Reebok.

Incorporating a sports club and swimming pool at ground level and spectacular glass elevators that will run for six floors, it will provide a spectacular and ground-breaking new feature within the South Stand of the award-winning £35 million stadium, which opened in September 1997 as the flagship of the fast-expanding Middlebrook development.

Work is already under way on a new £13 million tennis centre, athletics track and a rail halt. Burnden Leisure chairman, David Williams, described the hotel project as "a quality development".

He added: "It will add further value to the Reebok Stadium which is now recognised as one of the finest of its type in Europe."

The building programme is aimed at causing the least inconvenience to football fans with the major part of the construction work being carried out this summer during the close season.

Wanderers chairman Gordon Hargreaves said the hotel venture with the De Vere Group, which also has strong sports and leisure ties, would be a quality addition to the stadium and the Middlebrook Development and would "add a new dimension to the town of Bolton" as well as offering important financial support for the football club.

He added: "Once established, the revenues it creates will assist tremendously the football side of Bolton Wanderers."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.