A £10million expansion of a hotel and leisure club in the Black Country will be unveiled next week attracting hundreds of extra visitors.

The new 27-bedroom wing of Dudley’s Village Hotel, will be officially opened next Thursday by West Bromwich Albion manager Tony Mowbray.

Workers were today putting the finishing touches to the new extension which will see the hotel’s capacity increased to 124 rooms.

It marks the end of a multi-million pound refurbishment which started with a revamp of the Castlegate site’s leisure facilities last year and a facelift for the hotel’s pub.

Bosses say the new facilities will attract a further 300 gym members. General manager Mohammed Azam said the hotel had no qualms about launching the expansion while the credit crunch bites.

“We’re doing well and the extension is really quite nice, so we’re confident,” he said.

“And with the pub revamp we will be keeping the local pub atmosphere which makes the place so popular.

“We get residents from the surrounding area coming in, as well as hotel guests and leisure club users.”

Dudley’s cabinet member for regeneration, councillor Malcolm Knowles, described the expansion as a “big vote of confidence” for the town. He said: “It must mean they believe Dudley is the place to be, and that is great because it has a knock on effect bringing other investment into town.”

At the opening event the Baggies boss will be joined by the Mayor of Dudley councillor Ray Burston.