Motorway hotel is to reopen

A landmark hotel which shut without warning leaving 50 people out of a job is to reopen as a Holiday Inn and recruit 100 workers, it was revealed today.

The former Compass Hotel, which was most well-known as the Friendly Lodge and lies just off Junction 10 of the M6, closed almost two years ago.

It left guests who had booked rooms and events floundering, including one couple from Bilston who were forced to find a new wedding venue within days.

The 154-bed site in Wolverhampton Road West, Walsall, which has had various names over its more than 30-year history, could reopen as early as the end of this year.

Trucks and skips were today on site as work begins to rebrand the business.