Green light for Wimbledon Premier Inn
Hospitality group Whitbread has secured planning permission to convert a former restaurant and job centre into a 176-bedroom Premier Inn and Beefeater restaurant.
Whitbread purchased the former Henry J Beans site at the Broadway in Wimbledon, south London, in 2014. Including its purchase price, it will be investing approximately £30m in the new hotel, which is estimated to open in 2018 and will create 50 new jobs.
The company has secured planning permission for 559 additional bedrooms across three sites in London and Surrey within the last month, including a change of use consent for the former City & Guilds Group West Smithfield office headquarters and the re-development of the Comrades Club in Epsom.
Whitbread is targeting a growth milestone of 85,000 bedrooms by 2020. It is currently the UK's largest hotel group with approximately 65,000 bedrooms.
The company is also converting office sites in Dacre Street and Tothill Street in Westminster, London, and recently acquired 191 Old Marylebone Road, a 54,000 sq ft vacant possession office building between Marylebone and Paddington stations, which is to be demolished and replaced with a purpose-designed Hub by Premier Inn.
Owen Ellender, development manager for London at Premier Inn, said: "Our London expansion programme is firing on all cylinders. It shows the effectiveness of our property acquisitions strategy in London and how we are unlocking excellent locations through smart real estate investments. Right across the capital, we're bringing forward well-located new Premier Inns for our customers, and at the Broadway we're ideally placed to breathe new life into this site and deliver substantial investment to the community."
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