RECRUITING has started for the £12 million Village Leisure Hotel which the De Vere Group is building at Heap Bridge, Bury.

About 200 people will be employed there when it opens in August -- 80 to 100 of them full-time.

Village Bury, which incorporates a 98-bedroom hotel, a modern leisure club and restaurants and banqueting facilities, is being built close to Junction 2 of the M66 on a five-acre site on the Waterfold Business Park.

Mr Trevor Lake, Director of Operations for Village Leisure Hotels, said they were currently looking at supervisory level positions.

"I think there is a very good labour pool in the local area," he said.

"We have been very pleased with the response from good calibre candidates.

Village Bury will be the group's 13th development and two or three others are planned this year, including one in Newcastle. Although the hotel is likely to attract business people passing by, much of the emphasis is going to be on providing facilities for the community.

The Leisure Club, for instance, will include a 25 metre pool, a sauna, a steam room, a spa pool and a relaxation area.

Discounted membership offers will be available from a sales cabin on the site from March 1.

Mr Lake said they were convinced there was enough demand in the Bury area to justify the development.

But the opening of the final 12 miles of the M60 between Middleton and Denton had been a bonus which meant that access to the hotel had now been opened up to the whole of east Manchester.

"There has not been a great deal of significant hotel development in Bury over recent years," Mr Lake said.

"I think the Village will attract more business to the town."