BY now, builders should have been well on the way to completing the major project to bring the landmark Grand Hotel in Leigh back to life.

The Victorian building, in Leigh Broadway, has been empty and unused since 2008, but at the start of last year it seemed its future was much brighter thanks to businessman and former Towie star Mick Norcross.

He came up with a grand plan to spend £4.5million to turn it into a boutique spa hotel, featuring a restaurant, tearooms, piano bar, 20 bedrooms and a bridal suite.

Work was meant to start in February last year, but months of delays followed, partly blamed on the discovery of Japanese knotweed on the premises.

Could there now be a glimmer of hope?

A message on the Grand’s Twitter account, @Grand HotelLeigh, sent on December 23, wished everyone a merry Christmas and added: “Let’s hope for a more productive year ahead in 2015”.

Caroline Parker, a member of Leigh Town Council, is certainly hopeful the grand plan can finally get under way. She said: “Let’s be optimistic about this.

“I hope he can prove all the doubting Thomas’s wrong and make 2015 the year when the Japanese knotweed issue is sorted and, half way through the year, contractors get down there and start work.

“It’s very encouraging.”

The future of the Grand seemed very bright back in November 2013 when Mr Norcross took to Twitter to announce he had finally exchanged contracts with the Spirit Pub Group – a year after he got permission to refurbish the old hotel.

Builders soon appeared to carry out roof repairs and other maintenance, though the planned start in February was delayed by further negotiations with the site’s freeholder over the plans.

By March, reports emerged that the highly invasive – and difficult to eradicate – Japanese knotweed had returned to the grounds despite being removed once before the previous October, further delaying any work to the structure.

The problem was cleared up and workmen were back on site in April cutting back overgrown vegetation at the front and back of the hotel to allow builders to move in their equipment.

By May, the pace of work had gathered and the site was closed off with hoarding to allow builders to do their work undisturbed.

Photos of the works soon appeared on the Grand’s Twitter page along with some of the artwork and antique furniture Mr Norcross had procured for the hotel.

Many of the pictures were of traditional features, such as arched doorways and painted ceilings, which had been boarded up and rediscovered by the workmen – giving weight to Mr Norcross’s stated intention to restore rather than redevelop the building.

Also posted on the site, however, were photos of trespassers who had been caught on CCTV breaking into the building in June.

The following month, Julie Steadman, from Rawreth’s Blush Brides, told the Echo that, because she lived in Leigh, she was receiving inquiries from clients about holding their weddings at the Grand, and Mr Norcross had previously stated his desire to see them take place there once the hotel opened.

After July, however, both the Twitter page and work on the site fell silent.

It wasn’t until September, when a row over the clearing up of rubbish erupted between the Grand team and Leigh Town Council, that the Twitter feed became active again.

Since then, Japanese knotweed has again been blamed for continuing delays, but Mr Norcross has reiterated his belief the Grand’s planned opening date of Christmas this year will be met.

It remains to be seen whether this landmark hotel can rise again and in time for the next festive season.

Bell was also delayed...but now it's on its way

Echo:

Overjoyed: Leigh councillor Alan Crystall said he never thought he would live to see the Bell refurbished

MICK Norcross’s plan for the Grand isn’t the only refurbishment of a Leigh hotel that has been a long time coming.

Builders finally started work on the former Bell Hotel, which was built in the late 19th century, but has been empty since the 1950s, at the beginning of December – after nine years of planning wrangling.

The process lasted so long that developer Robin Levy eventually passed the handling of the project to his 28-year-old son Ben – and Leigh councillor Alan Crystall, first elected in 1973, said he never expected to live long enough to see it through.

The renovated building will form part of the Bell Sands luxury flats development – which includes three newblocks behind the old hotel – and is expected to be completed around the same time as the Grand, in December.

The last time anyone worked on the site was about 20 years ago, Mr Crystall said, when Arthur Wilkin began redeveloping it as a restaurant. He fell ill and died before it was finished.