Hilton hotel is coming to Wigan in £135m project

Wigan council has signed a deal which will bring a 144-bedroom hotel to the former Galleries shopping centre as part of a £135m redevelopment of the town centre. The authority has signed a franchise agreement for a six-storey Hampton by Hilton hotel, off Market Street in the town centre.

The hotel will have a gym on level one overlooking a new square with the main reception area and dining space on the ground floor. Each accommodation level will also have accessible rooms and secure parking will be available for guests.

Manager and operator Leaf Hospitality anticipates employing more than 60 staff at the new hotel, providing a range of job opportunities for local residents. Town hall bosses say the 62,430 sq ft accommodation space is one of the most important elements brought forward under the Galleries redevelopment masterplan in collaboration with its development partner, Cityheart.

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They hope it will help create the critical evening and weekend footfall required to bring new visitors back into the heart of the town centre. The hotel will be located directly opposite the bus station entrance off New Market Street and is within 500 yards of both town centre train stations.

The announcement is the latest development for the regeneration scheme since demolition work was concluded on time in February and main contractor Galliford Try was announced for phase one last week. Wigan council leader Coun David Molyneux said: “Following last week’s announcement of Galliford Try as our new development partner for the first phase of building work, it is really exciting to welcome Hilton to this multimillion-pound redevelopment.

“This is a