AN investment of £3.7 million into the Last Drop Hotel and Conference Centre in Bolton is set to create 30 new jobs. Macdonald Hotels, the Scottish based hotel and leisure group, has committed the money to build a 500-capacity banqueting and conference centre, 42 extra bedrooms and improved leisure facilities.

The conference complex will become one of the biggest venues of its kind in the North-west.

The new jobs created will bring the total number of permanent jobs at the Last Drop to 120.

Work has also been completed on a £1.3 million project at the Pack Horse Hotel, in the town centre, to restore the 72-bed Georgian hotel to its former glory and elegance.

A laundry has also been built in the cellars to service the other Macdonald hotels in the vicinity bringing an additional six jobs to the Bradshawgate hotel.

Donald Macdonald, chief executive of Macdonald Hotels, said: "Our hotels in Bolton are the forefront of our investment programme and this represents a huge vote of confidence in the future of these hotels.

"All Macdonald hotels have an individual style and a sense of history. We believe people appreciate a hotel with a difference yet one with luxurious accommodation and state-of-the-art business facilities."

Macdonald Hotels also owns the Egerton House Hotel which was previously owned by just two families for more than 200 years. The 32-bed hotel was recently refurbished at a cost of £200,000.

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