<P> The second purchase in 1981 was a derelict listed building in central Manchester (the former Watts Warehouse standing on Portland Street, Manchester). After redeveloping the unit it opened in May 1982 as the Britannia Hotel Manchester . At the end of 1982 British Rail sold off its hotel division - British Transport Hotels . From this sale, in 1983 Britannia bought the Britannia Adelphi Hotel in Liverpool . </P> <P> In 1987 Britannia Hotels converted an unused building in Manchester that had been the city's C&A department store - this became the Sachas Hotel . Later in the same year Bosworth Hall, a country house style hotel in Market Bosworth Leicestershire, was purchased . Bosworth Hall was being converted from a hospital / nursing home into a hotel and Britannia took over the development from the builders who went bankrupt . In 1988 the company purchased and began development of the International Hotel adjacent to Canary Wharf in the London's Docklands . The hotel opened on 9 June 1992 . A year later, Britannia took over a 187 - bedroom hotel in Stockport . After a period of refurbishment the Britannia Stockport Hotel opened in 1993 . In the summer of the same year the group also purchased the Europa Hotel situated close to Gatwick Airport . </P> <P> In the following 10 years the group acquired 16 more hotels in locations such as Birmingham, Aberdeen and Newcastle . In November 2004 it acquired four hotels from the Grand Leisure Group: the Grand Hotel in Scarborough, the Grand Hotel in Llandudno, the Grand Burstin Hotel in Folkestone and the Grand Metropole in Blackpool . In January 2011, the company bought North West holiday camp business Pontins out of administration in a £ 18.5 m deal which safeguarded about 1,000 jobs . Following the acquisition Britannia had to deal with a series of complaints . </P> <P> From 2005 to 2015 the Group enjoyed its most rapid period of expansion acquiring 23 hotels - including the Palace Hotel in Buxton and the Basingstoke Country Hotel acquired from the Hotel Collection and the Trecarn Hotel Torquay and Cavendish Hotel in Eastbourne . In 2017, Britannia Hotels also acquired the Royal Hotel in Hull from the Mercure Hotel Group expanding the empire to 53 Hotels . </P>

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