In its heyday, the Central in Glasgow was one of Scotland’s most glamorous hotels, hosting a Who’s Who of the rich and famous, from Laurel and Hardy and Frank Sinatra to Sir Winston Churchill and the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh. In 1954, when Roy Rogers, the singing cowboy, and his faithful steed Trigger embarked on a tour of Scotland, they checked into the Central.

These days the interior of the listed Gothic-style building bears testimony to years of neglect and an appalling dearth of investment.

In December, the hotel was forced to close 56 rooms after asbestos was discovered. The rest of the building followed suit in February after the Real Hotel Company (RHC), which ran it, collapsed into administration.

A desperate search for a saviour was launched and today Principal Hayley, the hotel and conference venue operator controlled by Permira, the private equity firm, will announce a £20 million investment to return the Central to its former glory. The hotel is scheduled to reopen in February 2010 under the name Grand Central Hotel.

The new owners have a tough job ahead. The hotel, built in 1883 alongside Central Station, was designed by Sir Robert Rowand Anderson, the Victorian architect whose works include the Scottish National Portrait Gallery and the Catholic Apostolic Church in Edinburgh.

In addition to its glittering guest list — John F. Kennedy, the Beach Boys and Bob Hope have all been there — the hotel gained fame in 1927 when John Logie Baird, the pioneering engineer, transmitted the world’s first long-distance television pictures over 438 miles of telephone line between London and the Central.

But in recent years, the hotel, which until its closure was trading under RHC’s Quality Hotel brand, had become a shadow of its former self.

Customer feedback on TripAdvisor, the online travel guide, variously decribed the property as “dirty, smelly, creepy and sleazy”, with guests complaining of blocked toilets, mouldy walls and poorly functioning lifts.

One prospective purchaser who looked round the building last year said that he had been “shocked and appalled” by the state of the hotel.

“The top two floors, which had long been closed off, were like a bombsite. But worst of all was the basement health club, which had shut two years earlier. The water had been left in the swimming pool and the smell was indescribable. It was like entering hell.”

Tony Troy, the chief executive of Principal Hayley, said that he was undaunted by the scale of the refurbishment, which will include the addition of 30 rooms to the 222-room property and a revamp of its huge banqueting facilities.

“Taking on a hotel that is completely unloved is just the sort of project we love,” he said. He said that the company had paid about £2 million for the hotel after negotiating a new lease of more than 100 years.

Principal Hayley is also buying the New Connaught Rooms, a London conference centre, also part of the RHC administration. Both properties were acquired through Christie & Co, the agent. It is paying about £10 million and will invest a further £7 million. The venue, to be renamed the Grand Connaught Rooms, will be its first non-residential conference centre.

Checking in

The proposed £20 million revamp of the Central Hotel in Glasgow is one of several prestige projects under way as the city seeks to cater to long-term tourism and conference demand and events including the 2014 Commonwealth Games

In September an 85-room hotel will open in Blythswood Square — named Blythswood Square — within the former Royal Scottish Automobile Club premises. The £26 million hotel will be the first property outside Edinburgh for the privately owned Town House Collection

In 2011 Sheikh Mohammed’s Jumeirah Group, which owns the Burj Al Arab in Dubai, will launch a five-star hotel in the business district, with 160 rooms, spa, gym, bars and 85 serviced apartments. The project is worth £120 million

Also due to open in 2011 is the five-star Bothwell Plaza, with 320 bedrooms, conference facilities and 320,000 sq ft of office space. The £140 million scheme is a redevelopment of the old Albany Hotel. It will be the city’s tallest commercial building, at 18 storeys

In the pipeline are a four-star hotel with 182 rooms at Custom House Quay and a 120-suite Staybridge Suites hotel from InterContinental Hotels Group at Jamaica Street

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