POPULAR Southampton restaurant-bar The White Star is to become a 13-bedroom, £65 a night boutique hotel, based on Winchester's famed Hotel du Vin.
It is part of a dramatic expansion that could see parent group Ideal Leisure almost double in size by snapping up three new properties.
The group, which owns Southampton bars Lizard Lounge, Apartment 26 and eatery La Cantina as well as Hamble's Bugle pub, has raised a "seven figure sum" from Lloyds Bank to fund the expansion.
Independently owned by Matthew Boyle, 37, and Mark Dodd, 38, Ideal, which employs 100 people, is now in negotiations to buy another pub and two restaurants.
Although Ideal is tight-lipped about the details, the sites are in Winchester, Lymington and the Isle of Wight.
Work to begin transforming Oxford Street's White Star starts next week.
Matthew said: "We have been building a secure base for ourselves. We didn't want to over-expand but now is the right time to bring in new staff and expand fairly rapidly.
"We will redevelop the White Star with 13 boutique hotel rooms which will coincide with a refurbishment of the trading area. The restaurant will become more of a gastro-pub and emphasise the informal dining side.
"The Hotel du Vin was a great inspiration for us in terms of its look and feel. We are very excited about it. It's taken us 18 months to get to this stage."
He feels that Ideal knows what it takes to succeed in the region's tough leisure market.
"I think people are a lot more discerning and the benchmark has been raised," he said. "We have always tended to operate at the higher end of the market and we understand the market and the region and we can see there's plenty of room to expand in the locality."
The group has origins in the founding of Lizard Lounge in 1994 by Matthew, who went on to launch La Cantina before teaming up with Mark in 2001 to form Ideal Leisure and the other outlets.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article