A LANDMARK Burnley hotel is to be turned into student accommodation.
Education bosses at the UCFB College of Football Business have announced plans to renovate the Keirby Hotel, in Keirby Walk, to incorporate 45 en-suite bedrooms from September for young people on its undergraduate degrees in the business of football.
The new UCFB halls of residence will be called The Crown and also include a gym, games room, quiet study area and student union.
It will be the college’s second official halls of residence in Burnley along with the Sparrow Hawk in Church Street.
The UCFB, in Harry Potts Way, which opened in September last year, currently has 60 students and is capping its 2012 intake at 200.
Mr Philip Wilson, provost and chief executive of UCFB, said: “From our inception, we knew that UCFB was going to be part of Burnley’s long-term future and by investing in the provision of more student accommodation, we’re making a real commitment to the town and region.
“It was important to us to invest in the town’s existing stock and refurbish some of Burnley’s well-known buildings that are no longer in use.
“The Keirby was the perfect candidate for this – it has needed a new owner and a new look for some time, and it’s the ideal location for our undergraduates in terms of proximity to the town centre and campus.
“Our undergraduates will provide a significant boost to the local retail and leisure economies and over the next five years, UCFB will contribute around £7,000,000 to the local economy per year. Yet the impact that UCFB has had on Burnley is not merely a financial one – we’re giving local young people the opportunity to live and study in their own town, and we have really put Burnley on the educational map both here and overseas.”
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