LANGHO hotel and restaurant Northcote has been bought out by a leading hospitality firm.

Britannia Hospitality, which owns the Stafford London hotel, bought Northcote, trade publication the Caterer reported.

Executive chef Lisa Goodwin-Allen, who retained the restaurant’s prized Michelin star last year will stay on, as will managing director Craig Bancroft.

He told the publication: “We want to make sure that everyone understands we’re all staying and we’re much looking forward to working alongside the Stafford management team and developing Northcote further and that was the whole point of the deal.

“We’ll let everyone know once everyone’s decided strategically where we’re going forward because there’s no point in doing that until we’ve discussed it with the teams involved.

“It was the right partner in terms of the synergy between a really iconic London property to be paired up with a country house hotel that has got such a fabulous backstory.

“A hotel like the Stafford to take on a Northcote is quite an amazing story.”

A spokesperson for Britannia said: “We look forward to working with the team at Northcote to continue to drive the performance of the hotel and deliver the exceptional experiences for which the hotel is known.”

Northcote sold off its pub chain Ribble Valley Inns last year.

Celebrity chef Nigel Haworth remains an ambassador for Northcote.

He stepped down from his managing director role in 2017.

READ MORE: Nigel Haworth steps down from managing director role at Northcote

Haworth was back in the kitchen last month for the restaurant's infamous Obsession festival.

Goodwin-Allen featured alongside James Martin at Northcote on ITV this week.