Whitbread PLC, the owner of Premier Inn, has unveiled plans for an 82-bedroom hotel in Chichester, fulfilling its long-held ambition to add a second site in the cathedral city.
The freehold site on Bognor Road, acquired from Hanbury Properties, sits next to the main A27/A259 junction, providing strong access for business and leisure travellers visiting the historic centre.
The new hotel will complement the existing Premier Inn at Gate Leisure Park to the south-west of the city centre, taking the total number of Premier Inn rooms in the Chichester catchment to 165 and completing Whitbread’s network plan for the area.
Whitbread Acquisitions Manager Louise Woodruff said: “From Roman ruins to the racing circuit at Goodwood, Chichester’s diverse cultural offer and successful business economy is fuelling year-round demand for high-quality, affordable hotel bedrooms from our customers.
“This consistent demand has underpinned our search for a suitable second Premier Inn location in Chichester which we are pleased to have acquired from Hanbury Properties, who have provided us with a fully serviced site, ready for development in the Spring.
“Purchasing the site freehold shows how flexible we can be to bring high-quality locations like this one into our pipeline, and our in-house development team is itching to get started and begin constructing our newest hotel in southern England later this year.”
James Belbin, Director of Hanbury Properties, said: “We’re delighted to complete the sale of this site to Premier Inn and look forward to seeing their plans come to life. It’s an excellent location for a new hotel and will help to underpin the next phase of development at Cathedral Business Park.
“The site was a former WWII fuel depot that required significant investment, including full remediation, a new slip lane and traffic light junction off the A259, bus stop, a 220m estate road, and services under the A27 to facilitate development – so it’s not been the most straightforward site to deliver.
“This sale represents the culmination of all that hard work. It’s been a pleasure working with all the acquisition team at Premier Inn to bring this site forward, and it’s great to know that this hotel will create valuable jobs and help contribute positively to the local community in the years to come.”
Whitbread said the acquisition reflects continued investment across Sussex and the wider south coast, where it sees strong potential to expand Premier Inn.
Later this year, the company expects to grow its trading network across West and East Sussex to 23 locations, with a Bognor Regis Seafront hotel due to open in April.
Construction of the first Premier Inn in Littlehampton town centre is scheduled to begin in February following the demolition of a former supermarket on the site, and Whitbread is also searching for a new location in Rye.
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