Hilton Garden Inn is OPEN!

-Article and Photo by The Sentinel-

Stoke-on-Trent's highly-anticipated Hilton Garden Inn has now opened its doors to guests.

The impressive £20 million building - which forms part of Hanley's Smithfield development - is the first Hilton-branded hotel in the city.

General manager Ben Carey said: "This hotel is fantastic for the city in terms of regeneration and development; we have also been able to create new and local jobs, so we are really excited to finally be open.

"The city has been lacking a full-service hotel for many years even to the point where visitors were choosing to stay outside of Stoke-on-Trent because the capacity and accommodation just wasn't there. So there is a lot of excitement around the hotel, it's been phenomenal.

"We are really looking forward to welcoming our guests and members of the public as well as our neighbours from the Clayworks apartments and the Smithfield."

The 140-bedroom hotel is complete with a restaurant, bar, meeting rooms and a gym.

On entry, guests are greeted with a reception area and a small shop selling refreshments and snacks - ideal for those who want breakfast 'on the go'.

There is a trendy bar area which sells beer, wine, spirits and Plum Porter from Burslem's very own Titanic Brewery, and The Garden Bar and Grill Restaurant which uses locally-sourced ingredients and tableware from Steelite International.

Both the bar and restaurant is available to members of the public as well as hotel guests.

Upstairs there are three spacious meeting rooms which are available for corporate use - including the self-contained Mitchell room and the Wedgwood Suite which can be partitioned to create an additional room, called the Matthews Room.

Hotel guests also have access to an on-site gym which is complete with all of the latest equipment including treadmills and free weights.

There are five different types of rooms - all of which contain a fridge - including a queen room which boasts a sofa bed for additional guests, an accessible room for guests with additional needs, a family room for larger parties, a king room which boasts a larger bed and a twin room.

Throughout the hotel, the decor gives a subtle nod to the history of the Potteries - including the Spitfire and famous faces including Reginald Mitchell, Josiah Wedgwood and Sir Stanley Matthews.

Director of sales Steve Alty said: "We have used local suppliers where possible such as LiDR in Stoke which have provided us with the furniture for the bar and restaurant and a lot of the bedrooms and meeting rooms. All of the crockery is from Steelite and we're supporting Titanic Brewery by stocking Plum Porter. We've also used Johnson Tiles and our three meetings rooms are called Mitchell, Matthews and Wedgwood.

"Throughout this whole process it has been really important to us to be able to promote and showcase the city's heritage."

He added: "The hotel could not be in a better position for visitors. We are right next to the new Spitfire museum which is being built around the corner, are in walking distance to the theatres, museums and local attractions such as the Emma Bridgewater factory. We really are in a fantastic location."

Pictured: Hilton Garden Inn sales director Steve Alty and general manager Ben Carey.