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Whitbread unveils first hub by Premier Inn hotel outside central London

23 Jan 2020 Estate

First Hub Outside Central London

Whitbread, the owner of the Premier Inn and hub by Premier Inn hotel chains, has opened the doors of its newest hub by Premier Inn hotel on Lillie Road, West Brompton, marking the business’ first hub by Premier Inn hotel in the capital outside Zone 1.

The new 89-bedroom hotel is a landmark opening for Whitbread as it works to expand its network of hub by Premier Inn hotels to other ‘urban village’ locations in London and regional town and cities across the UK. 

To celebrate the opening, a launch event was held by Whitbread and its development partner Banham Security on Thursday 23 January which brought together the Mayor and Leader of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham, as well as local businesses and neighbours.

Derek Griffin, Head of Acquisitions in London and the south for Whitbread, said:

“West Brompton is an excellent location for a hub by Premier Inn hotel given the vibrancy of the local area and it’s excellent transport connections.  Our hub by Premier Inn hotels are performing well across our network of sites in London and Edinburgh and we’re confident the brand will trade just as well in urban village locations like West Brompton as in central London.  It’s an exciting time for our hub by Premier Inn brand and we are actively seeking new freehold and leasehold opportunities across London and in towns and cities across the UK.”

hub by Premier Inn West Brompton is located on Lillie Road, adjacent to West Brompton Underground station and opposite the Earls Court development site.  Whitbread committed to a 30-year lease on the completed hotel building, which increases Whitbread’s network of hub by Premier Inn hotels to nine locations across London with a further five locations (more than 900 rooms) on-site or in planning.

Whitbread’s hub by Premier Inn hotels are designed to offer smart, stylish and good value accommodation in the most central and connected locations. The brand features hotels with ‘compact’ bedrooms, enhanced by useful technology such as Smart TV’s and clever lighting. The hotel ‘Lounge’ offers through-the-day light touch dining in a modern space, with a quality bar offering.

The site of the West Brompton hub by Premier Inn was formerly Banham Security’s Alarm Receiving Centre.  It was acquired by the business in 1980 and was where many of Banham’s staff started their careers with the firm.  Banham’s current Managing Director, Martin Herbert, spent an early part of his career working at Lillie Road.

Charles Hallatt, the Executive Chairman of Banham Security, said:

“It has been a pleasure working with Whitbread on building this new hub by Premier Inn.  This site, where the hotel now stands, operated as one of our London premises for many years, hosting our first in house alarm receiving centre. As Banham grew and modernised, we moved our business operations and alarm receiving centre to other premises but retained Lillie Road as part of our property portfolio with a view to develop it in a way that would benefit and enhance the local community. 

“We are proud that we were able to partner with Whitbread and redevelop the site as a wonderful new hotel that will make a positive contribution to the West Brompton area for many years to come.” 

The hub by Premier Inn employs 23 team members all of whom were recruited through the local Fulham Job Centre and live in the West Brompton / Fulham area.  Approximately half of the new team members work at the hotel part-time, with four front-of-house team members studying at University whilst working at the hotel.

Councillor Daryl Brown, the Mayor of Hammersmith & Fulham Council added:

“I welcome Whitbread’s investment in the Borough. I’m pleased to learn that the company has recruited locally to fill the 23 new jobs on offer and some of the new team are working flexibly as they raise a family or study towards a degree. I also understand that some are considering working towards a Whitbread apprenticeship which is fantastic.  I wish everyone all the best – whether as a guest or starting a career in the hospitality industry.” 

Whitbread is actively looking for new sites as part of its expansion into London’s urban villages and across the UK and Ireland. A full list of locations Whitbread is targeting in London and nationwide is below:

hub by Premier Inn target locations include:

London: Barbican, Bethnal Green, Bloomsbury, Brixton, Camden, Chelsea, Clapham, Euston, Finchley Central, Greenwich, Hackney, Hampstead, Holborn, Islington, London Bridge, Notting Hill, Paddington, Putney, Richmond, Shepherd’s Bush, South Bank, St Paul’s, Stratford, Twickenham, Walthamstow, Waterloo, Whitechapel, White City Vauxhall

UK & Ireland: Bath, Birmingham, Bournemouth, Brighton, Bristol, Cambridge, Cardiff, Chester, Dublin, Durham, Edinburgh, Exeter, Glasgow, Leeds, Lincoln, Liverpool, Manchester, Milton Keynes, Norwich, Nottingham, Oxford, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Reading, Southampton, Winchester, Windsor, York

            ENDS

For more information, please contact:

Note to editors

  • Please refer to the Whitbread website that offers promotional PDFs with more information.
  • The five hub by Premier Inn hotels in Whitbread’s secured development pipeline are located in Camden (Camden High Street), Farringdon (Farringdon Road), Marylebone (Old Marylebone Road), Shoreditch (Quaker Street) and Soho (Berwick Street).

About Premier Inn

Premier Inn was named the UK’s top-rated hotel chain for 2018 according to Which? With almost 800 hotels and more than 75,000 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 2018 Premier Inn was also named the UK’s top-rated hotel chain for the fourth 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 more than 6,000 Premier Inn bedrooms in its secured pipeline in Germany.

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