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23
Dec
Council gives verdict on major development at Harrogate Premier Inn
North Yorkshire Council has approved plans for major changes at a Premier Inn in Harrogate.
Whitbread Group PLC, which owns Premier Inn, put plans to demolish The Park restaurant and build additional hotel rooms at the Hornbeam Park site to the council in October.
The application sought approval for an additional 22 bedrooms, which will be created in place of The Park and will be connected to the existing hotel.
The extension is set to increase the number of bedrooms at the hotel from 68 to 90.
It came as part of the group’s plans to bring lower-performing branded restaurants in-house and convert the remaining space into extra rooms.
The approval means sites like The Park, which is attached to the south Harrogate hotel, will be replaced by a facility inside the hotel, under Premier Inn branding.
Whitbread, which attributed the move to reduced footfall from non-hotel guests, said in April:
Over the next 24 months we plan to replace around 112 of our lower-returning branded restaurants with integrated restaurants, and use the vacated space to add new higher-returning hotel rooms to help meet strong demand.
In fiscal year 2024, these branded restaurants generated an adjusted loss before tax of £19m.
At these locations, we will transfer the delivery of food and beverage for our hotel guests to an integrated restaurant that will be built inside the neighbouring hotel, mirroring the successful format of our 387 integrated restaurants that are already in operation across our estate.
The Park at Hornbeam Park. Credit: Premier Inn.
Plans say internal amendments will be made to the existing hotel, which will facilitate a breakfast area for guests.
The new restaurant will cater only to hotel guests and will not generate external trade.
The Park was part of Table Table, which is also owned by Whitbread Group, and closed to non-hotel guests in July. Planning documents say all operations at The Park have now ceased.
The development is part of Whitbread Group’s accelerating growth plan, which aims to add a further 3,500 hotel rooms to the Premier Inn portfolio.
Around 1,500 jobs – out of a total 37,000 – will be cut as part of the move, Whitbread said in April.
The council approved the changes to the Harrogate hotel, which is one of more than 900 UK sites, subject to conditions last Thursday (December 19).
Whitbread Group PLC declined to comment on the planning permission when approached by the Stray Ferret.
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