CELEBRITY chef James Martin is set to put the icing on the cake of a £4.6m scheme to give Eastleigh's Holiday Inn a dramatic makeover.

The TV chef will be at the hotel on April 7 as a special guest when a new 11-room state-of-the-art conference centre, dubbed The Academy, is unveiled.

Members of the Eastleigh-based Trojans' under-15 rugby team, who are also known as The Academy, will also figure in the official launch, with Eastleigh mayor Councillor Gillian Connell.

Work started last October to completely change the image of the 1970s building in Passfield Avenue and phase one of the ambitious scheme is now complete.

The Junction, a new 104-seat restaurant, is now fully open, with new lounge and bar areas in which specialist features include Internet facilities.

Over the years the emphasis has changed and the strategy for the hotel is to aim at the corporate market which provides most of its business.

But hotel general manager Wayne Morris says he is also keen to reach out to the local community.

He said: "It always has had a good reputation with the local community but I think that when people see the hotel they think it is a bit formal and starchy. But we're not, we're very contemporary.

"My focus is to bring a bit of synergy between the corporate and the local market so that people will pop in for a cup of coffee or a spot of lunch."