BARROW'S popular Duke of Edinburgh Hotel is looking forward to revitalising its future.

The high-quality hotel is known for its large bar and restaurant area, as well as its luxurious 51 bedrooms.

The business has also recently welcomed its new manager Michelle Wood who had initially joined The Mill at Ulverston from The Abbey House hotel.

Following difficulties caused by the lockdown, the hotel has worked to bring business back and is looking forward to many potential opportunities in the future.

Assistant general manager and stalwart, Barry Ellis said: "Lockdown was mixed for us, business wise.

"We were lucky as there were a lot of key workers during the first lockdown, but the second and third were not so good.

"They were tricky as January, February and March were all pretty slow but we have been picking up much more now.

"We got the chance to help out key workers most of the way through which went very well. A lot of businesses did the same.

"Unfortunately, when we were closed we had to lock our doors and we only had one member of staff on sight to keep up with room service.

"We got plenty of painting done over the lockdown so there was a lot to keep us busy. We had bits of the bar and restaurant refurbished which we are very happy about.

"We've been on and off during the last two years. First, we opened and then we were not open.

"While we didn't have any official refurbishments done, we did a few things that kept our staff busy.

"We were on and off during the two years but we've got a great group of staff members.

"There are around twenty-five people on our books at the moment, and we had thirty going into lockdown. We were happy to be able to retain a lot of our staff numbers.

"The trade is coming back nicely and after March and February this year. We're looking to offer more things, such as quiz nights, burger nights more often, live music, and serving new cuisines.

"We want to bring people back as people have got used to working and staying at home, eating and drinking at home, money is tight so we need to offer them more.

"The summer holidays will be interesting as we think we will see a lot of people coming back.

"We're really excited to be working with our new manager and we're excited to be revitalising the hotel."