Teignmouth's Premier Inn cancelled

Hotelier pulls out

Premier Inn have pulled out of plans for a hotel in the centre of Teignmouth.

The three-storey 68-bed hotel and Beefeater restaurant, which was approved by Teignbridge District Council last year, was due to be built on the derelict Brunswick Street site.

It was due to be the only branded hotel in Teignmouth.

However, at Teignbridge's overview and scrutiny committee, leader of the council Cllr Alan Connett confirmed that ‘rumours’ over the future of the site were true and the hotel chain had withdrawn.

He said: “There have been some setbacks and Premier Inn have notified the council they are withdrawing from the project. They have said they do want a presence in Teignmouth but not at this time,” adding that the coronavirus pandemic had meant that they had re-evaluated their investments.

Cllr Connett added that he had asked officers to look again at plans for the site.

Teignbridge District Council had agreed to construct the new hotel to Premier Inn’s latest specification, with the final building being leased to Whitbread, Premier Inn’s parent company, for a minimum of 25 years, but those plans are now in question following the hotel chain’s decision to withdraw.

It is  not known whether the council will still build the hotel and look find a partner to lease it to, or if the project will be paused until an alternative operator can be found.

A spokesperson for Premier Inn said: “Before the pandemic we were confident we could operate a 68-bedroom Premier Inn hotel and Beefeater restaurant on Brunswick Street in Teignmouth profitably.

“As a responsible publicly owned business, we reviewed the expected trading levels of all our pipeline developments to ensure these new hotels and restaurants are financially viable for us following the coronavirus pandemic.

“Regrettably, the proposed hotel and restaurant at Teignmouth town centre is no longer financially viable for Whitbread. We have therefore reluctantly withdrawn from the scheme.

“This difficult decision does not impact our commitment to any other of our trading or pipeline developments in Devon or elsewhere.”

The hotel was due to be built on the Brunswick Street car park site and the former Swanson workshop, as part of the wider regeneration of the area of the town.

A new health and wellbeing centre, which would include relocation of the town's GP practices, are among the plans, as are the refurbishment of the Teignmouth Arts and Community Group’s home in Northumberland Place.

Categories: Policy