March 16, 2011 3.21 pm This story is over 155 months old

Castle Hotel reopens after £1m refurb

Fresh-faced: Castle Hotel in Westgate reopened its doors to the public after a six-month, £1 million refurb.

The Castle Hotel in Westgate, Lincoln reopened this week after a six-month, £1 million refurbishment.

New owners Paul Catlow and Saera Ahmad worked with city architects, designers and builders for the refurbishment which began in Autumn 2010.

The entire hotel, restaurant and newly created apartment have since been completely renovated.

The Grade II listed building was built on the site of Lincoln’s Roman Forum in 1852.

Starting life as a school, the building has also served as an evening institute, parish rooms, army cadet centre, Sunday school, riding school, occupation centre and repair workshop, before becoming a hotel in 1979.

Phase one was completed in November last year earning the hotel a five-star self catering grading by Visit Britain.

The main hotel work commenced at the start of January and has been completed in just ten weeks.

Every single bedroom in the hotel has been refurbished and en-suites were added.

A new dedicated lounge bar area has been created, and the restaurant has been completely revamped and renamed as Reform (pictured).

The restaurant will be serving a contemporary European menu from head chef Mark Cheseldine, formerly of Café Bleu in Newark.

Paul Catlow, the new owner of the hotel, said: “It has been a huge challenge to get the hotel finished in time, but we are absolutely delighted with the final results.

“We set out to bring the hotel tastefully into the 21st century whilst maintaining its traditional appeal, and feel we have really achieved that.

“With Mark’s fantastic food featuring seasonal ingredients from local suppliers, we hope to turn Reform, into a destination restaurant for locals as well as hotel guests.

“The restaurant previously didn’t particularly appeal to local diners but we hope to change that by offering a place to eat second to none in Lincoln.”