Erskine Bridge Hotel bought by Indian investor

The hotel has a function room which can accommodate 500 guests

An Indian investor with a chain of Scottish hotels has bought one of the most prominent buildings on Clydeside.

Muthu Hotels has taken over the Erskine Bridge Hotel, a large hotel close to the south end of the road bridge, paying an undisclosed sum to Cosmopolitan Hotels.

The 177 room hotel has been renamed Muthu Glasgow River Hotel.

It has a function suite for up to 500 guests, with a self-contained spa, pool and gym.

This is being seen as a strategic move by Muthu to provide a flagship base for inbound tourists landing at nearby Glasgow Airport, then feeding into its other hotels in more rural locations.

Over recent years, it has bought hotels including the Newton in Nairn, the Alexandra and Queen's hotels in Oban, the Fort William Hotel and the Royal Thurso, as well as hotels in Dalmally and Tyndrum.

Parent company MGM Muthu also has resort hotels in Spain and Portugal, India, Cuba, one in the French pilgrimage down of Lourdes, and three outlets in England.

The investor is a conglomerate, mainly in India, extending to bulk solids logistics, distilling whisky and an entertainment park in Chennai, where the company was founded in 1963.