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The redundant restaurant attached to a hotel on the outskirts of Preston could be turned into extra bedrooms to help cater for increased demand from visitors and travellers.
The Beefeater outlet, which stands alongside the Premier Inn Preston East hotel, on Bluebell Way, closed to the public in July as part of a national culling of eateries by the parent company of the two brands, Whitbread.
In common with plans for other vacant facilities created by that move elsewhere in the country, the firm now wants to use the empty space at the Preston site to expand its hotel offering. However, such is the demand for the Preston facility – located close to junction 31A of the M6 – that the company is also bidding to build a brand new extension as well.
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The Local Democracy Reporting Service understands a new restaurant would be integrated within the hotel building and would be open to guests only for both breakfasts and evening meals.
The three-storey add-on – matching the height of the existing hotel – would create an extra 20 bedrooms, while 32 would be contained within the former restaurant, which was known as the Norman Jepson Beefeater prior to its summer closure.
The changed layout would mean three current bedrooms would be lost – leading to a net gain of 49 rooms overall and taking the capacity of the hotel to 116 rooms.
Some car parking space would also have to be surrendered as part of the new-build extension, meaning the number of available spaces would fall from 143 to 129 – but would still exceed the one-space-per hotel-room standard set under Preston City Council planning policy.
In an application submitted to the authority, seeking permission for its plans, Premier Inn Hotels Limited states: “Whitbread has identified a demand for the provision of additional budget hotel accommodation in this location, having regard to the proximity of the site to significant highway infrastructure – the M6 motorway – and nearby employment uses.
“This proposal for additional bedrooms would meet Premier Inn’s operational requirements in the area and go some way in helping to address this bedroom demand. [It] would facilitate the optimal operation of the hotel and bring substantial economic and social benefits. The hotel’s location makes it a logical site for additional accommodation, given that it is fully operating and functioning and capable of accommodating the demand.”
Over the past decade, food sales made up 73 percent of the Norman Jepson Beefeater’s revenue, but Whitbread says it is evident there is now “no need for a restaurant facility at this location”.
The firm confirmed earlier this year that it would be shedding 1,500 jobs and selling 126 of its least profitable branded restaurants – including Beefeater and Brewers Fayre outlets – and converting 122 others into hotel bedrooms.
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