Jobs on the way as pair buy Shrewsbury nightspot

Former Shrewsbury Town goalkeeper Ben Smith and Turkish politician Eddie Uyan, who used to run the Flaming Great chain of takeaways in the town, joined forces seven months ago to run St Nicholas Spa in Castle Street.

And on New Year's Day they completed the purchase of Morgans The Exchange Hotel on Bellstone, which had previously been run by Quintin Morgan.

Now they plan to offer bedrooms, a steak bar, a Moroccan spa and a function room.

St Nicholas is in the process of undergoing a £250,000 refurbishment and now has five bedrooms along with the spa, while Morgans has six.

A new steak bar will open at St Nicholas creating 12 jobs and in total the business employs more than 50 people across its two sites.

Mr Smith said: "It is all very exciting. We have refurbished St Nicholas in keeping with the building and with the help of Shropshire Council's conservation officer. The sale of Morgans was completed on January 1 and we are now working hard to bring the two venues together. They will run to complement each other. We will be able to offer a real spa and stay experience for our guests. The steak bar will be something Shrewsbury has never seen before – it will be like those found in Manchester and London."

Mr Uyan added: "We have got two chefs coming to join us from outside of Shrewsbury and two from Shrewsbury. It is all very exciting and so far so good.

"It is going to be a great surprise for the town.This is a family-based business and we have taken a lot of effort and time to make sure it is done properly. We will have 52 staff working for us in total in both venues, both part time and full time and 12 new jobs will be created when the steak bar opens."

The grand reopening of St Nicholas after the total refurbishment is completed, will take place on February 6.