Premier Inn maintains momentum with major completions in London and Milton Keynes
Two prime locations set to add 450 rooms to Premier Inn’s expanding network
Whitbread, the UK’s largest hospitality company, is maintaining momentum in its expansion drive with the practical completion of a new 274-bedroom Premier Inn in Southwark and a 180-bedroom hotel in Milton Keynes city centre. Both schemes will feature a Bar + Block steakhouse restaurant, Whitbread’s latest high-quality restaurant offer.
Part of Frogmore’s £85 million New Marlborough Yard development at The Cut in Southwark, the new Premier Inn and Bar + Block will be Whitbread’s largest opening in London this financial year. Designed to achieve a BREEAM Excellent energy rating, and featuring a public courtyard and park, the hotel and restaurant will create approximately 90 new jobs when it opens to guests later this year.
Whitbread’s sixth Premier Inn hotel in Milton Keynes is located on Avebury Boulevard in the city centre. Developed in partnership with Dominvs Group, the 10-storey 180-bedroom hotel and restaurant will generate between 75 and 80 new jobs on opening.
The practical completion of both sites was achieved with construction continuing during the lockdown. Additional on-site measures and working practices were introduced to protect workers and the general public and ensure social distancing. With building work now complete, Whitbread will start fitting out the interiors of the hotels and Bar + Block restaurants with the two sites expected to open in autumn 2020.
Alex Flach, UK Development Director at Whitbread, said:
“While the coronavirus pandemic has created significant challenges for the hospitality industry, we remain committed to our strategy of growing and innovating Premier Inn and hub by Premier Inn in the UK and Ireland. Reaching practical completion of new Premier Inn hotels in Milton Keynes and on The Cut in Southwark takes us a step closer to adding 450 new Premier Inn rooms in the prime locations our customers want to be. The hotels and restaurants are in the heart of the action, look fantastic and we’re confident they will be very popular with our customers when they open later this year.”
Earlier this month, Whitbread announced it was restarting work on 35 construction sites in England and Wales in line with public health and industry guidance. The business opened more than 2,300 new Premier Inn and hub by Premier Inn bedrooms in the UK during the 2019-20 financial year, expanding its total national network to 821 hotels.
For the current financial year (ending February 2021) Whitbread is working to complete 17 newbuild hotels (more than 2,500 new bedrooms) including its eleventh hub by Premier Inn hotel in the capital at Berwick Street in Soho. Nationwide, the business has more than 13,000 Premier Inn and hub by Premier Inn bedrooms in its secured development pipeline.
Outside of the UK Premier Inn is expanding aggressively in Germany with nineteen trading hotels and an open and committed pipeline of almost 10,000 bedrooms across 52 hotels. By the end of 2020 Whitbread expects to operate a total of 20 Premier Inn hotels across Germany.
ENDS
For more information, please contact:
• James Anderson, Property Communications Manager at Whitbread on 07850 944 798 / James.Anderson@whitbread.com
• Richard Pia / Emily Barnes at Camargue on 020 7637 7366 / whitbread@camargue.uk
Notes to Editors
The construction of the 274-bedroom Premier Inn and Bar + Block Steakhouse at New Marlborough Yard in Southwark was led by principle contractor Gilbert Ash. McAleer and Rushe led the construction of the new Premier Inn at Avebury Boulevard in Milton Keynes.
About Premier Inn
Premier Inn was named the UK’s top-rated hotel chain for 2019 according to Which? With over 800 hotels and 80,000 rooms across the UK and Ireland, Premier Inn guests are never far from a great night’s sleep at fantastic value rates. Premier Inn hotels are in more locations than any other UK hotel brand for the ease and convenience of leisure and business travellers alike.
All Premier Inn bedrooms feature en-suite bathrooms, a luxurious Hypnos® bed, a choice of pillows, TV with Freeview and free Wi-Fi. A bar and restaurant is situated either on-site or next door to each hotel, offering a wide range of food and drink including a delicious all-you-can-eat breakfast.
Across the estate, the average Trip Advisor score for Premier Inn hotels is 4.2. Premier Inn has been awarded the Best UK Family Hotel in the TripAdvisor Travellers’ Choice Awards, Best UK Hotel Group in the Silver Travel Awards and the Business In The Community Environmental Leadership Award. In 2019 Premier Inn was also named the UK’s top-rated hotel chain for the fifth year in a row by Which?
Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity is the National Charity partner of Premier Inn and to date team members, guests and suppliers have reached the milestone of £10 million, which formed part of the funding towards the Premier Inn Clinical Building, officially opened by HRH The Duchess of Cambridge in January 2018.
Outside of the UK, Premier Inn’s expansion plans are focused on Germany. Premier Inn opened its first hotel in Frankfurt in 2016 and has almost 10,000 Premier Inn bedrooms in its open and secured pipeline in Germany. By the end of 2020 Whitbread expects to operate 20 Premier Inn hotels in Germany.
