£15m Preston hotel named in Bill Shankly's honour

A Liverpool property developer is to name its new £15m Preston hotel development after footballing great Bill Shankly.

In addition to a successful 15-year spell as Liverpool FC manager, Shankly spent many years at Preston North End as a player - playing 300 games in a spell between 1933 to 1949 which was broken up by the war. He won the FA Cup with Preston, and has a stand at Deepdale Stadium named after him.

The hotel will take over Preston's former Grade II listed post office building which is 114 years old. It will be transformed into a luxurious 65 room boutique hotel, featuring Shankly memorabilia complete with photographs, and nostalgia connected to his time at his various clubs.

The hotel will become part of of Signature Living's portfolio of football-themed hotels, which also includes The Shankly Hotel in Liverpool, and has the Dixie Dean in Liverpool and the George Best Hotel in Belfast under development.

The project will be lead by Bill Shankly’s grandson Chris Carline, who is also coowner and curator of the Shankly Hotel in Liverpool along with Signature Living’s Lawrence Kenwright.

Lawrence Kenwright said: “The Shankly Hotel is to not only celebrate his iconic footballing career and achievements but to honour the very special relationship he had with the city and people of Preston, having signed for Preston North End in 1933. It is a great honour to be working with Chris and the Shankly family on this exciting project for Preston.”

Bill Shankly’s grandson and Shankly Hotel coowner and director Chris Carline said; "It is important for his legacy to be honoured in Preston where he spent much of his playing career. He had some amazing footballing highlights and achievements at Preston and made some incredible friends including Tom Finney who my grandfather said was 'the greatest player he ever saw'. "I am absolutely delighted that we will be able to bring some of the Shankly magic to this incredible building and share some of the amazing memories with the people of Preston. The city is fast becoming a vibrant place for nightlife and entertainment and we are extremely excited at being able to contribute to Preston’s hospitality offer.”