Premier Inn Given Go Ahead to Build Hotel & Restaurant at Worcestershire Cricket Club

Premier Inn, one of the UK’s largest hotel chains, and Worcestershire County Cricket Club, has been granted planning permission to develop a new 120-bedroom hotel and restaurant and new facilities for Worcestershire County Cricket Club at the New Road ground.

The new hotel and restaurant is part of a comprehensive redevelopment of the ground which will also include the construction of new conference and executive facilities. Once complete the new hotel and restaurant will create more than 45 full time jobs in the town as well as additional jobs at the Cricket Club.

John Bates, Head of Acquisitions for Whitbread Hotels and Restaurants, said: “The New Road ground is an ideal location for a new Premier Inn, right in the centre of Worcester and a perfect spot for leisure and business visitors to the city. The development is a great example of how flexible we can be to get into the best sites, and it takes us closer to achieving our target of 65,000 Premier Inn bedrooms across the UK by 2016. We will now press on to start building the hotel in the autumn, so we can add another quality location for our customers and invest to create jobs in Worcester.”

Whitbread, Premier Inn’s parent company, is investing £7.5m in the hotel and restaurant and Worcestershire County Cricket Club is also investing in excess of £2.5m in the new facilities.

David Leatherdale, Chief Executive of Worcestershire County Cricket Club, added: “In this economic climate, businesses of all types need to use their resources effectively to survive. We are doing just that at our New Road ground, investing in our facilities to help secure the future of the club and drive success on the pitch. The new development will add further facilities, to complement the Graeme Hick Pavilion completed some 2 ½ years ago making us a 365/day destination, and helping to attract investment into the Worcester. I am delighted that local councillors support our vision, and we will now be working hard to deliver a scheme which will benefit the City and County as a whole.”

A detailed planning application for the hotel and executive suites was submitted to Worcester City Council in December 2011 and was granted without conditions on 1 March 2012.

by Ismail Uddin