An artistic rendering of Premier Inn hotel to be built near Charing Cross in London
British hospitality company Whitbread says it has received planning permission to build its largest hub by Premier Inn property to date. According to a press statement by Whitbread, the 693-room hotel will be situated at 5 Strand, almost next door to the Charing Cross station as well as Nelson’s Column and Trafalgar Square in Central London. There is currently a partially demolished office block on the site.
According to reports, it is not the first hotel development to be proposed on the site as the location was earlier earmarked for a 200-room Park Hyatt hotel.
Whitbread says that it intends to develop the hotel under Whitbread’s hub by Premier Inn brand, which offers compact bedrooms around half the size of a standard Premier Inn room. Hub by Premier Inn was launched in Covent Garden in 2014 and has since grown to 18 hotels across London and Edinburgh. The 16,000 sqm development will feature 13 floors including ground floor space fronting onto the Strand and Northumberland Street.
“Hub by Premier Inn was launched a decade ago in St Martin’s Lane, a few hundred metres from 5 Strand. The brand has blossomed into a network of 18 popular hub hotels in Central London and Edinburgh and has become a proven model for bringing our affordable bedrooms into the most central, vibrant, and connected locations for our guests,” says Mark Anderson, Managing Director for Property and International, Whitbread.
“5 Strand is an excellent example of how we think the Whitbread hub by Premier Inn brand can evolve in Central London. It also shows how we can use Whitbread’s strong balance sheet to acquire the best positioned, most accessible, and high-demand locations in the capital to grow our brands. With planning permission now secured we will move quickly to begin construction of the new hotel and deliver a true flagship location for our guests,” Anderson adds.
Whitbread recently announced plans for another 207-room Premier Inn property within “under-utilised” car parking space under the Brunswick Centre in London’s Bloomsbury. The group said the hotel’s rooms, reception and communal guest areas will feature “cutting edge lighting technology which provides a natural spectrum of light following the human circadian rhythm”.
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