REFURBISHMENT work on a former training centre in Barrow town centre has begun.

The former Rathbone Training Centre in Abbey Road was listed for auction in May last year but in a last-minute twist, the building was sold just hours before the start of the sale for an undisclosed amount.

Rathbone Training closed its Barrow centres in Abbey Road and Phoenix Road in July 2015, resulting in the loss of nine jobs.

The substantial Victorian building is arranged over four floors and totals more than 7,000 sq ft.

Plans were submitted last October by a Mr A Ahad from Morecambe to convert the building into a 20-bedroom hotel with restaurant and bar and workers have this week been spotted inside the premises undertaking work.

The approved plans for the former Rathbone building are just one of a number of proposed hotel developments in Barrow, in a bid to take advantage of the growing shipyard workforce and number of contractors staying in the town.

The Rathbone centre's change of use application states the new venture will create 15 jobs and will provide a "valuable service to the town as it enters these exciting times".

The Townhouse Bar Kitchen and Rooms is a new 13-bedroom hotel, restaurant and bar, based at the bottom end of Dalton Road, in what used to be Boots.

Plans to demolish the former police station in Barrow and build a 127-bedroom Holiday Inn Express and restaurant have also been approved by Barrow Borough Council.

The Duke of Edinburgh in Abbey Road increased the number of rooms it has by building into empty attic space in the adjacent Cooke's Building to provide an additional eight rooms.

Also in Barrow, a huge 240-room portable Snoozebox hotel is to be built at Woodbridge Haven, in Cavendish Dock Road.

Meanwhile, The Crofters in Holbeck Park Avenue has been converted into the Crofters Lodge with 11 en-suite bedrooms.

Down the A590 in Ulverston, a new Premier Inn is to be built at a cost of £5m, following on from the construction in 2014 of a 62-bed hotel and restaurant in Barrow next to the Dock Museum.