A long-established guest house in Keswick is to offer more ‘Aparthotel’ style accommodation after it received permission to change the way it operates.
Peter Mountfield, of Lakeside House, on the town’s Lake Road, has been granted a certificate of lawfulness by the Lake District National Park Authority to accommodate seven self-contained short-term holiday letting suites.
Lakeside House, which has been a guest house for 40 years, provides breakfast, room refreshments, daily room service, day-to-day hospitality and a reception for checking in and out.
It is proposed to modify the operation, but not the guest house use, to provide suites with lounge, kitchenette and en-suite bedrooms to establish more ‘Aparthotel’ style accommodation
The application said: “The change to the day-to-day running will present tourist accommodation of a slightly different nature.”
Breakfast will not be provided and a contactless self check-in process will operate.
The remodelling of the interior will reduce the maximum number of guest bedrooms from 13 to 10, located within the seven suites.
Each suite will comprise one or two bedrooms – each will have an en-suite bathroom – with lounge and kitchenette containing a worktop, fridge, cooker, hob, sink and compact dishwasher. There will be no change to the reception area and lounge and no material change to the external appearance of the building.
The letting suites would provide accommodation on a commercial, fee-paying basis, bookable in advance, lettable by the night; where food may be provided but not residential care.
The certificate of lawfulness says that the proposal improves the standard of accommodation as it is a less intensive tourist provision which “aligns with the increased need of the public to engage in social distance friendly self-contained holiday accommodation.”
