£15m hotel plan as Doncaster Racecourse boosts conference facilities

Officials at the Town Moor track are in talks with the local authority about the 150-bedroom complex which is set to be built on the site of the former weighing room.

They also hope the hotel will transform the appearance of the Bawtry Road and Leger Way junction as well as enhancing the racecourse’s growing reputation as one of the county’s leading conference venues.

Even though it successfully staged Ukip’s party conference last autumn, it is believed that the presence of a leading hotel will make it easier for the premier track – owned by Arc – to hold such events in the future.

Talks are already underway with a number of leading hotel operators who have expressed a desire in running the complex.

“We did have planning permission back in 2008 when the track was redeveloped, and the new grandstand built, but the economic market was not right at the time,” said the racecourse’s managing director Mark Spincer.

“We believe that the demand is there for a facility like this, and that it will compliment the ambitions of the track as a premier leisure and conference venue.

“Our aim is to start work at the back end of this year in the first quarter of 2016. We hope that it will be completed by March 2017.”

Doncaster is not the only racecourse that is looking to diversify – a major residential development is now underway at Newbury to secure the future of racing at the famous Berkshire track. Windsor is another racecourse looking at building a hotel.