THE Holiday Inn Express Barrow officially opened its doors to paying guests.

In recognition of the site’s former incarnation as a police station, members of the local emergency services joined General Manager Mark Winter to cut the ribbon and officially declare the hotel open, which is two weeks ahead of the originally planned opening day.

Mark Winter, General Manager of Holiday Inn Express, said: “It is a real honour to be joined by a team of people who can only be described as ‘local heroes’ to cut the ribbon and celebrate our opening day.

“We’ve already had an incredible journey in building up the new hotel to today’s opening, and now we start a whole new journey where our focus is on offering outstanding service to all of our guests."

After doing the honours, the hotel’s guests enjoyed some refreshments on the house, kicking off the hotel’s first community initiative which involves offering free tea and coffee to all members of the emergency services in the area.

The 127-bedroom hotel and restaurant, which recently unveiled its team of 25 hospitality superstars, has already been hailed as having the potential to encourage further development on Market Street and Duke Street by the Furness Economic Development Forum.

Jim Bailey community inspector, said: "I’m representing the police and the long history of working out of this building, they have put it to good use for the benefit of the community.

"We are happy to come and use it for work as we want to be out in the area, so to have a business welcoming that is great. It is really good for us as visibility and presence is massive for the police."

Mark Ashall, owner managing director of Ashall Property, said: "I’m really happy with it, it looks just as it was envisaged, I like the idea of how the layout is on the ground floor. The great thing is that it was set up to multi task.

"We are not just constructing a building, we are creating a business at the same time which is exciting to be a part of.

"It also provides the link between the hotel and the police station which will help to engage with the community and emergency services in Barrow."