The owners of a well-known hotel on Loch Lomond have acquired a rival operation as part of a £6m expansion drive.

The owners of a well-known hotel on Loch Lomond have acquired a rival operation as part of a £6m expansion drive.

The Colquhouns, who own the Lodge on Loch Lomond hotel at Luss, have bought the Inverbeg Inn from the McKever group, with a view to more than doubling the capacity of the historic venue.

Opened in 1885, the three-star Inverbeg Inn is a former drover's inn which sits on the lochside three miles north of Luss.

The hotel was acquired in 2006 by the fast-expanding McKever Group, owned by the former welder Alistair McKever.

However, Niall Colquhoun, who opened the Lodge on Loch Lomond in 1992 with his wife Anne, said the hotel had come back on the market recently, presenting the couple with an opportunity to expand.

"It had always been our intention to acquire another hotel and when the Inverbeg came onto the market it was too good an opportunity to pass up," he said.

"It has the advantage of being set in a stunning location but it has never made the most of its obvious natural assets and as a result has underachieved.

"The building itself has been neglected somewhat over the years. We plan to give it a complete makeover and we have no doubt whatsoever that we will be able to turn it into a success."

With backing from Allied Irish Bank, the Colquhouns will upgrade the 12 bedrooms and kitchen in the Inverbeg hotel and add a further 13 bedrooms.

The hotel is scheduled to re-open in spring 2008, when the Colquhouns expect to create an additional 20 full-time jobs, bringing the total staff headcount at the Inverbeg Inn to 30.

The Colquhoun family has been active in Scotland's hospitality industry for more than 60 years, operating facilities in Luss, Inverkip and Crieff.

The McKever Group operates 13 hotels. Alistair McKever's other interests include controversial hotels for the homeless in Glasgow and the Bar Buddha pubs business.