TWENTY-THREE jobs have been saved following the sale of a Kent hotel.

The Falstaff Hotel, Canterbury, faced possible closure after the collapse of the Kent-based Swallow Hotels group.

But administrators Ernst & Young have confirmed that a buyer had been found for the hotel in St Dunstans Street.

The name of the buyer has not been disclosed.

The troubled group, run from offices in Medway Street, Maidstone, operated eight Kent hotels, including Stone Court, Maidstone, Larkfield Priory, Chaucer, Howfield Manor and Falstaff, all in Canterbury, The Shurland, Sheerness, Kent International, Ramsgate and Londsdale Court, Cliftonville.

Stone Court and the Londsdale have been sold to the Flodrive Group and its joint venture partners in a 240-hotel and pub deal.

Ernst & Young are still seeking buyers for the other outlets, as well as several bars across the county, including Zebra and Ashes, Maidstone, and Stocketts, Coxheath.