Wigan newspaper office to be become Holiday Inn with journalists based on ground floor

The Wigan Observer and Wigan Evening Post newspaper office is to be transformed into a Holiday Inn Express in a £5m redevelopment.

Journalists will continue to be based on the ground floor of Martland Mill, where the newspapers have been based for more than 30 years.

According to the Johnston Press newspapers' website, the hotel will have a capacity of 87 rooms, which could rise to 110 in two years, and is set to open this Christmas.

The development is reportedly expected to create 40 full-time jobs.

The company’s managing director, Stephen McManamon, installed and commissioned the newspapers’ presses when the building opened in 1982.

McManamon had initially planned to turn the building into a press equipment manufacturing plant before his father, chairman Joe McManamon, suggested it would make a “great hotel”.

“This may have been a newspaper centre but its grid layout is absolutely perfect for conversion into a hotel,” said Stephen McManamon.

“I was just 21 when I first came to Martland Mill over the installation of the presses.

“And 30 years later it is immensely satisfying to be responsible for finding a new and very productive use for the site and one that will play its part in creating jobs and boosting the Wigan economy.”

The Wigan Observer has a paid-for weekly circulation of 11,504 and the Wigan Evening Post has an average daily circulation of 5,018.

Topics in this article : Johnston Press