Hundreds of well-wishers joined in the Champagne launch of a new £8.5m hotel on the banks of the River Thames.

Heading the guest list at Oxford Spires, on a 40-acre site off Abingdon Road, Oxford, were Oxford East MP Andrew Smith, who was promoted to the Cabinet last month as Chief Secretary to the Treasury, and his wife Val, the Lord Mayor of Oxford.

Mr Smith paid tribute to the Witney-based Four Pillars group and its partners, Builders Ede. He said: "This really is good news for Oxford to see successful local companies investing in facilities of this standard.

"It is most welcome both for the 115 bedrooms it provides in the city centre and the more than 100 jobs it has created.

"It will be a wonderful place for people to base themselves on a visit to Oxford and wonderful for local people too." The hotel is , belonging to University College. More than two years of planning and construction of went into the handsome stone building, which replaces a derelict supermarket once run by Aldens. It is the sixth hotel built by the Witney-based Four Pillars group.

One of them, the Oxford Thames at Sandford, is also beside the river and will enjoy a link with the Oxford Spires by means of a 12-seat boat, the Four Pillars Belle.

Features of the new hotel include a pool and fitness suite open to members of the public, an a la carte restaurant and conference facilities for up to 250 delegates. The two-storey building contains more than 50 miles of electrical cables, 2,300 plug sockets, 1,050 tonnes of steel and 2,150 metres of drains.

told the Oxford Mail he was proud of his company's role in the project.

"We were responsible for everything, from the planning to the final design details," he said.

The Kidlington-based company was set up by Mr Ede's father, Robert, 40 years ago and has built some 2,000 homes in the area.

The company previously worked with Four Pillars on its hotels in Witney and Sandford. Two more are in the pipeline in Bristol and Swindon.

But the Oxford Spires has not met with universal acclaim.

Gillian Thompson, treasurer of the Hinksey Park Area Residents' Association introduced herself to managing director of Builders Ede, Jonathan Ede, to criticise what she called the "suburban" design.

Story date: Saturday 06 November

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.