A South Lakeland company is poised for another major investment that will enable it to go for growth while safeguarding its future.

Sunlight Service Group, the UK's leading supplier of textile rental and laundering services, plans to invest around £750,000 in new machinery at its laundry site in Kendal.

The new equipment will include a state-of-the-art ironing line for duvets and table linen, and a new larger batch washer that will double the capacity of the washhouse.

"It will enable us to maintain and raise the quality service that we provide to customers in the Lake District. It will help us to increase volumes that we carry through the factory," regional director Paul Borrowdale told Business Gazette.

Although the latest investment would not create any new jobs, it would cement the laundry's position in the market place locally, he said. The laundry employs up to 150 people, depending on the time of year.

The news comes less than a year after Sunlight Service Group ploughed another £750,000 into a major 6,000 sq ft extension at the laundry on Shap Road.

Mr Borrowdale said the two investments underlined the company's confidence in the long-term future of the Kendal operation, which serves the linen needs of around 1,000 accommodation providers, ranging from large hotels to small guesthouses.

Meanwhile, the laundry is cleaning up with its new five-star linen service for hotels and guesthouses across the Lake District.

New plant housed in the extension has enabled the business to offer its customers a five-star linen service, including top-of-the-range bedding, towelling and table linen.

Senior sales executive Graham Jackson said the new service involved a switch from automation to hand-feeding and hand-finishing of linen, which produced a "tremendous" finish.

Among those that have taken up the enhanced service are the English Lakes Hotels group, the award-winning Holbeck Ghyll, Windermere, and West Vale Country House at Far Sawrey.

Douglas Dale, operations director of ELH, which includes the Low Wood, Ambleside; the Waterhead, Ambleside; Storrs Hall, Windermere; Wild Boar, Crook; and Lancaster House Hotel, said the group valued the new service offered by Sunlight.

"It's given our group of hotels a range of high quality linen for our properties that hitherto had not been available to us. In the market we are attracting, we are always looking for higher specifications and standards of goods and services," said Mr Dale.

The laundry threw open its doors last Thursday for an open day to show off what it can now offer the hospitality industry. Among those attending were representatives from the Castle Green Hotel, Kendal; the North Lakes Hotel, Penrith; and Rudding Park Hotel, Harrogate.