A £1m hotel named after Tamworth’s greatest war hero has opened in the town following a campaign by the Herald.

The Colin Grazier Hotel, in the town’s old police station, was officially launched with a champagne reception attended by leading town figures, Colin’s relatives and a contingent from the Tamworth Herald.

War hero Colin died trying to retrieve Enigma codes from a German submarine during the Second World War.

The hotel is the latest development in a campaign run by the paper and its deputy editor, Phil Shanahan, chairman of the Colin Grazier Memorial Committee, to increase awareness of the incident, which is now acknowledged as a major turning point of the Second World War.

It has been described as a living museum to the Colin Grazier story with its walls lined with photographs, memorabilia and a large collection of Herald articles.

The committee is now working on the final phase of the campaign, which is to provide Tamworth with a superb memorial sculpture in the town centre.

Herald deputy editor Phil Shanahan, said: “I hope the hotel is an enormous success because the more people who come through its doors, the better known these remarkable Enigma heroes will become.

“The town is at last beginning to celebrate its association with a pivotal movement in world history and the Colin Grazier Hotel is an important part of that.”

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