Andy Murray buys luxury Scottish hotel

LONDON (AFP) –

Britain’s Andy Murray plays a return during a traning session at the Australian Open in Melbourne on January 26, 2013. Murray has spent £1.8 million buying a luxury hotel close to his home town of Dunblane in Scotland, the 25-year-old tennis ace said on Monday.

Andy Murray has bought a luxury hotel near to his home town of Dunblane in Scotland, the 25-year-old tennis ace said on Monday.

The US Open and Olympic champion plans to turn Cromlix House Hotel, a Victorian mansion where his brother Jamie married his Colombian bride Alejandra Gutierrez in 2010, into a 15-room five-star retreat.

The Perthsire hotel was built in 1874 and is situated less than five miles from Dunblane.

The refurbished hotel is scheduled to re-open next spring ahead of the 2014 Ryder Cup, which is being staged a short distance away at Gleneagles.

It will boast a Chez Roux restaurant and will be managed on Murray’s behalf by Inverlochy Castle Management International (ICMI) in consultation with renowned chef Albert Roux — the owner of ‘Le Gavroche’ in London.

“I am pleased to have acquired Cromlix House and look forward to securing its future as a successful business,” Murray said in a statement on his website.

“By re-establishing Cromlix as a leading luxury hotel at the heart of the Dunblane community we will be able to attract new visitors to the area, create a number of new jobs and focus on supporting other local businesses.

“I’m pleased to be able to give something back to the community I grew up in.”

The new business will create up 40 jobs for the local community, the statement added.

Cromlix House, which operated as a four-star hotel before it ceased trading in February 2012, is set in 50 acres of woodlands and garden with a trout loch.

The hotel currently boasts 14 bedroom suites, a chapel, reception hall, two drawing rooms, conservatory, dining room, library and meeting rooms.

Its previous owners of more than 30 years, the Eden family, said they were happy the venue was staying in local hands.