Quy Mill Hotel and Spa, in Stow-cum-Quy, launches second bid to expand

A historic hotel near Newmnarket has launched its second bid to expand in the hopes of making itself financially viable.

The Quy Mill Hotel and Spa, in Church Road, Stow-cum-Quy, has said at its current size it cannot make enough money to support itself as a business.

The four-star hotel currently includes 51 guest bedrooms, but the business wants to build an additional 44 rooms.

Previous proposals to more than double the size of the hotel to create total of 110 rooms were rejected by South Cambridgeshire council last year.

Under the new plans, some of the existing buildings in the hotel grounds would be demolished but the grade II-listed 19th century watermill would be kept.

The hotel gym would be extended, as well as the restaurant, with a new glass box to be built on to the side of the existing restaurant as part of the mill building.

The application said the design of the glass box would enable the extension to reflect the surrounding trees and vegetation, so it would appear to be disappearing and not interfering with the image of the grade II-listed mill building.

As well as rejuvenating the hotel, the expansion would offer a number of other benefits, including improved accessibility to a number of rooms and a biodiversity net gain with at least 100 new trees.

The hotel management said that in able the hotel to compete in the local market changes had to be made to increase the number of rooms, enhance facilities and improve the layout, without which there was a significant danger of running at a loss

They said: “These changes will increase the hotel’s contribution to the pool of tourism accommodation available in Cambridgeshire, support tourism and the visitor economy and ensure the retention and creation of new jobs at the hotel for the long term.”