A FLAGSHIP and centuries-old Hampshire hotel is set to expand, bringing with it more jobs.

Bosses at the award-winning White Horse Hotel in Romsey have bought a nearby pub, Abbey Hotel, as part of their scheme to enlarge facilities at the popular town hostelry.

White Horse Hotel managers Paul and Sarah Bingham say this is good news for Romsey in more ways than one.

Besides providing more accommodation – the £500,000 plans which include transforming the Abbey Hotel into an inn with nine-bedrooms and a honeymoon suite – the project will bring more than a dozen jobs.

Mr Bingham, who has been running the upmarket hotel for nearly seven years wife Sarah, said: “We’ve got a refurbishment scheme in excess of £500,000 for the Abbey Hotel. We are going to trade it as part of the White Horse Hotel and rebrand it as the Abbey Inn.”

He added that a traditional English pub is part of the White Horse’s plans for the Abbey Hotel which has been closed for at couple of months after Enterprise Inns failed to get anyone to take on the tenancy after the previous tenants left.

“It will be run as a pub, as it should be. We will be offering food there and are looking to retain the standards of the White Horse but with a simpler dining experience,” added Mr Bingham. The 600-year-old White Horse Hotel is owned by Jonathan Nuttall and his wife Amanda.

“We are very excited to be creating more business in Romsey. The White Horse is one of the top five in Hampshire and is accredited as a town house hotel. We are already full here for Christmas and our plans for the Abbey Hotel are going to give us more scope to add to our custom,” said 52-year-old Mr Bingham, who revealed work on revamping the Abbey Hotel building will start next month.

They hope to open in January.

“We hope to have the Abbey Inn open from the end of January next year. We are recruiting to enlarge our team here. A number of jobs will be created and this includes full and part-time posts,” added Mr Bingham.

Besides the acquisition of the Abbey Hotel, the White Horse has taken on the lease of a neighbouring building at 18 Market Place.

“We plan to add a bedroom for the disabled and two beauty therapy rooms there", added Mr Bingham who was a chef for 25 years at country houses before taking on management duties.

He was a chef at the Lainston House country hotel at Sparsholt for many years and that is where he met his wife.

The couple’s daughter Sophie is marketing and events coordinator at the White Horse and she will be managing the beauty salon when it opens.