Whitbread closes its financial year with 11 new and extended hotels

Whitbread has added 11 new and extended hotels to its national network during its 2022/23 financial year which closed on 2 March 2023. Together, the group added more than 1,500 new Premier Inn and hub by Premier Inn bedrooms to its network of affordable hotels across the UK and Ireland in the year. The company also stated that more than 500 new jobs were created by Whitbread at the new and extended hotels and restaurants during the period. Some of the new hotels included: The launch of Premier Inn Clerkenwell hotel which offers 180 "compact" hubs by Premier Inn rooms in central London. The “tallest” Premier Inn in the UK at Canary Wharf (Westferry) in London which stands at 28-storeys and offers 400 guest bedrooms. The first Premier Inn in the Lake District National Park at Keswick, Cumbria and another one at Milton Keynes (Willen Lake) with a new format Brewers Fayre restaurant. A second Premier Inn hotel in St Helier, Jersey and a 393-bedroom Premier Inn at Paddington Basin in Central London. The first Premier Inn to open the new hotels were developed using a combination of leasehold hotels constructed in collaboration with Whitbread's development partners and freehold developments spearheaded by Whitbread, like in the case of the hub by Premier Inn Clerkenwell hotel. As it expands, Whitbread is currently looking to secure a new Premier Inn and hub by Premier Inn hotels in more than 160 locations across the UK and Ireland. Alex Flach, UK development director for Whitbread, said: “The openings show how active we continue to be having identified an increased market potential from 100,000 to 125,000 Premier Inn and hub by Premier Inn bedrooms in the UK and Ireland. They also clearly demonstrate the strength of our design and construction capabilities, often in sensitive and constrained locations. “We completed some highly complex developments during the last financial year, growing our estate in popular, sought-after locations, and all these learnings will be fed into the next generation of locations for Premier Inn and hub across the UK and Ireland.”