JURYS has officially opened its first hotel in Northern Ireland. The hotel, which cost £9.4 million to build has 190 bedrooms and is the largest in the North.

Located in Belfast city centre beside the Opera House, it will employ 80 people. It is based on the Jurys Inn concept, where the room rate is £55 and can accommodate up to three adults or two adults and two children.

The hotel which was officially opened yesterday by Baroness Denton, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Department of Economic Development, has been funded by Jurys and through grant aid from the Northern Ireland Tourist Board.

The hotel is the fifth Inns development in the group. The sixth will open in Limerick on May 9th and the seventh, in London, is currently under construction.

Jurys' chairman Mr Walter Beatty said the Belfast hotel had acted as a "springboard" for the siting of a Jurys Inn in London. Last month, the group got planning permission to increase the number of rooms in the London Hotel, at Pentonville Road, Kings Cross, from 168 to 221 bedrooms. The hotel will cost £12.5 million including site costs, to develop. It is expected to open on June 1st 1998.

The Belfast hotel is aimed at the business, leisure and tourist sector. Mr Beatty said that research had shown that irrespective of the political situation, Belfast is a good city in which to do business. Jurys managing director Mr Peter Malone said that Belfast is still a "very busy economic city".

The Belfast hotel is being managed by Mr Conal O'Neill, who prior to coming to Belfast established the Jurys Inn in Cork. The hotel has been open for the past two weeks and Jurys said it was pleased with the initial response.