THE JESUS PEOPLE BUY £200,000 HOTEL

THEY WILL TAKE OVER CORNHILL

Source : 29/11/1978 Northampton Chronicle and Echo

Cornhill Hotel, Pattishall, has been bought by the Jesus People of Bugbrooke for more than £200,000.

The hotel with 16 bedrooms, a restaurant seating 50 and a ballroom for 200, is to become a residential and conference centre.

The property was acquired by Northampton estate agent Mr. Frank Aran, who said that the purchase price was £195,000.

'That was the basic price, but when you take into account the stock and inventory the price was well over £200,000,' he said.

The sale was completed yesterday. The vendor was the Southern Hotels Group, owned by Mr. Stanley Grant.

In a statement the leader of the Jesus People, the Rev. Noel Stanton, minister at Bugbrooke Baptist Church, said: 'The premises will be used for Christian residential and conference purposes.'

A spokesman for the Jesus People denied that the hotel would be used by them as a school, and said that it would 'certainly not' become a commune.

But the spokesman also agreed that the movement was selling some of its properties in Bugbrooke.

Cornhill Hotel was built by an industrial magnate shortly before the First World War. It has changed hands several times during the past five years.

A sale of surplus stock is to be held at the hotel on December 12.