Castle hotel owners announce plans for £15m expansion

Owners of a castle hotel have announced plans for a £15m expansion.

Proposals for additional rooms, a new restaurant and a spa at Crossbasket Castle have been submitted to South Lanarkshire Council.

The owners of the once-derelict building in High Blantyre transformed it into a five-star hotel back in 2015.

Steve and Alison Timoney spent five years and more £10m restoring the listed castle.

Now the pair have applied for planning permission that would see their investment in the award-winning property more than double.

The plans include a new 40-bedroom hotel and a new restaurant, and could bring up to 52 new jobs to the Blantyre area.

Alison Reid-Timoney said: “We’re really excited to announce our ambitious expansion plans at Crossbasket Castle.

The project could bring up to 52 new jobs to the area. Weber Shandwick

“After purchasing what was a building in a state of total disrepair and on Scotland’s Buildings at Risk Register, it became a true passion project to carefully restore the castle and grounds to their resplendent glory.

“The expansion marks the next phase of this journey. We believe pushing forward with this large-scale investment at this highly uncertain time, is not only essential to protect our existing business but is the kind of thing that will encourage the industry to fight back and deliver the standard of facility that our customers are keen to see and will inevitably return to with their usual enthusiasm.”