TWO hundred jobs are set to be created if the green light is given to plans to turn Crewe Hall into a hotel.

The historic hall was sold to private investors for an undisclosed amount this week for conversion into a four star hotel with conference facilities and a leisure centre.

Part of the Hall would be converted to 23 bedrooms and suites with a further 100 new bedrooms, a leisure club and swimming pool, gym, aerobic studio and treatment rooms being created.

The Hall was built in 1636 for the first Lord Crewe, then rebuilt after a fire in the 1870s almost doubling in size.

The Duchy of Lancaster acquired it in the 1920s when the family died out before the government took it over as a prisoner of war camp for German officers in World War Two.

The Hall was given back to the Duchy in the 1950s and it was occupied by the Wellcome Foundation until 1995.

The Duchy agreed to dispose of the freehold to allow the hall to become a hotel and its owners, St Modwen, began planning for the conversion.

The Hall had previously been given planning permission to use the Hall for conferences, banquets and weddings.

If planning permission is given, bedrooms will be ready from autumn this year.

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