Whitbread has unveiled plans to build a 108-bedroom Premier Inn hotel on Southend Road in Hunstanton.
The company is in early discussions with planners at the Borough Council of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk on the design of the new hotel, with a planning application expected to be submitted in the autumn.
The hotel will feature the brand’s latest guest bedrooms, including its enhanced ‘Premier Plus’ rooms, and guest-focused restaurant alongside dedicated on-site guest car parking spaces.
The proposed location for the new hotel is a generally underutilised area of car park, known as Seagate East Car Park, Southend Road. The coach park and the Honeystone Public House car park do not form part of the proposed development site.
If the application is approved, the Hunstanton hotel will be the first Premier Inn to be built on the North Norfolk coast and the first to open in the county since the Great Yarmouth Seafront Premier Inn welcomed guests in 2019.
Paul Smith, acquisitions manager at Premier Inn’s parent company Whitbread, said: “Hunstanton is one of the UK’s best-known seaside destinations and a place we’ve wanted to bring Premier Inn to for some time. It attracts visitors from across the East of England and beyond, yet it does not currently offer any branded hotel rooms to visitors. We believe a Premier Inn in Hunstanton would be a great addition to the town’s tourism offer, providing visitors with the quality, value and reliability they expect from the UK’s leading hotel brand while helping to support local businesses, jobs and year-round economic activity.
“The Southend Road site presents an excellent opportunity to bring Whitbread’s significant, multi-million-pound investment into the town and create new accommodation that can support both leisure visitors and those travelling to the area for work. We are looking forward to continuing our discussions with the council and local stakeholders as we develop our plans.”
Simon Ring, deputy council leader and cabinet member for business at the Borough Council of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk, added: “This is huge news for Hunstanton, the culmination of years of discussions between the council and Premier Inn, and I’m so proud the agreements are finally in place, subject to formal planning consent. The exciting opportunity we’ve unlocked for Hunstanton is a major investment in the year-round local visitor economy and jobs, that will complement very well the existing offer in Hunstanton and our emerging masterplan vision that’s currently out to consultation with the community.
“Through increasing overnight visitor stays and bed spaces, surrounding cafes, restaurants shops and tourist attractions will benefit from increased footfall and spend. The detailed designs of course will come out through the usual planning process and consultation. But the sheer fact the UK’s largest hotel chain wants to invest in Hunstanton is a vote of confidence in the resort’s future, placing us alongside Norfolk’s other big visitor destinations, and this investment and new facility will hopefully act as a catalyst for further money, guided by our masterplan.”
