Mr Bellis buys Dominion

Press, 15 December 1979, Page 6

Mr Bellis buys Dominion

The Dominion Hotel in Gloucester Street may close for six months next year while renovations are made by a new owner. The buyer is Mr B. W. Bellis, owner of the Coachman Steak House, who plans to move the popular restaurant into the ground floor of the 77-year-oid hotel. Lion Breweries, the present owner, will run the Dominion until it changes hands on March 25.

The Canterbury Licensing Committee had granted a permit to close the hotel for six months from that date, Mr Bellis said last evening. The plan is to gut the building. “We have a report hv consulting engineers and they say it ia in very good

order for its age,” Mr Bellis said. Subject to approval by the Licensing Control Commission, Mr Bellis said, the maximum guest occupancy of the hotel would be reduced from 33 to 24 and the restaurant and an adjacent bar would be built on the ground floor. The public bar would be moved to the first floor and a house bar would be put there, too. Mr Bellis said the cost and final details of the renovation had yet to be worked out. He hoped the public bar would become a “white collar” bar, catering for office workers in the area. The house bar would feature entertainment.

Mr Bellis bought the Coachman eight years ago. Its 80-seat capacity, above Chancery Lane, was now insufficient and the Dominion would offer three times the space.

Mr Bellis said he had also considered purchase of the Theatre Royal in Gloucester Street for the new proposal. The Dominion, originally called the Central, was built in 1902.

Facilities would have to be built into each guest-room to bring the accommodation up to international standards, he said.

The renovations might take less than six months and it was not possible to set a re-opening date for the hotel, Mr Bellis said He would not disclose the" sale price.