Press Release

7 March 2017

Plans for new Premier Inn announced for Fareham Shopping Centre

Premier Inn could be coming to Fareham with details confirmed on 6 March that the UK's favourite hotel brand would be the operator for the new hotel proposed as part of regeneration at Fareham Shopping Centre.

Plans for the new hotel are due to go on display as part of a public consultation taking place later this month and including a 2-day exhibition in the shopping centre on Thursday 23 and Friday 24 March.

The plans involve Fareham Borough Council (which owns the freehold at Fareham Shopping Centre) and Roubaix Group (which owns the lease on the Centre and is responsible for operating it).

Also announced is confirmation that Fareham Borough Council will fund the investment plans.  Subject to planning permission being granted, this would see the Council taking a significant step forward towards its overall strategy of creating long-term value from its real estate assets and support the town centre as an attractive place to work, visit and spend leisure time.

The plans involve an 84 bedroom Premier Inn which would replace the derelict offices at the rear of the Shopping Centre (above the existing Waterstones unit).  As well as providing important hotel choice in the town, the new Premier Inn would create approximately 40 new jobs.

Chris Beckerman, Managing Director of Roubaix Group, said: "We're investing into and improving Fareham Shopping Centre with a view to repositioning it and making it Fareham's preferred place to shop and spend leisure time.  Bringing Premier Inn into our redevelopment and regeneration plans is a really important part of working towards this vision and continuing the improvement of the shopping centre."

Councillor Seán Woodward, Executive Leader of Fareham Borough Council, said:  "By fully funding the build and bringing in a market-leading hotel operator in Premier Inn, which is part of FTSE 100 Whitbread, we are creating long-term value and returns as well as delivering a regeneration boost to Fareham's town centre.  A new Premier Inn will therefore deliver value both through enhancing the shopping centre as a property asset to add to our commercial portfolio, which is already realising returns of £4.3m, and by contributing to the Council's overall town centre improvement programme."

Derek Griffin, Head of Acquisitions (London & South) at Premier Inn, said: "We're seeing strong customer demand for Premier Inn nationwide and Fareham is a location where we've been wanting to invest for some time.  This is an excellent opportunity for a top quality Premier Inn in the heart of the town, supporting business and leisure guests alike and contributing to the future of Fareham."

Full details of the plans will be made available during a public consultation starting on 22 March and running until 3 April.  As well as the 2-day exhibition in the shopping centre which will be staffed by members of the project team, there will be a consultation website and the exhibition information will be put on display (unstaffed) in the shopping centre.  More details for the consultation will be announced within the next two weeks together with further detail on the proposals and what they might look like.

The consultation precedes submission of a planning application to the Council which is anticipated to be submitted later this spring.

Roubaix Group purchased Fareham Shopping Centre in summer 2015 and, in addition to plans for adding a new hotel, is undertaking an overall programme of asset management and improvement.

ENDS

Media contact:

For Roubaix Group / Premier Inn:

Ben Copithorne or Michael Low at Camargue on 020 7636 7366 / bcopithorne@camargue.uk / mlow@camargue.uk

For Fareham Borough Council:

Jan Lasnon, PR and Marketing Manager, Tel: 01329 824302

e-mail: publicity@fareham.gov.uk

Notes to Editors:

About Premier Inn

Premier Inn is the UK's leading hotel brand with an unrivalled understanding of the needs of business travellers.

Every year, Premier Inn offers millions of business guests a great choice of hotels in over 750 locations across the UK.

Premier Inn was named the UK's top rated travel brand 2016 and the top rated hotel chain for 2016 according to Which?  621 of the chain's hotels achieved a TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence, awarded to hotels that achieve outstanding guest reviews. On the YouGov Hotel Brand Index, Premier Inn has been rated the "Best Value" hotel chain since 2011.

Premier Inn was named Best Budget Hotel Chain at the 2016 Business Traveller Awards and won Business Travel Awards 2017 Best Midscale Hotel Brand.

All Premier Inn bedrooms feature en-suite bathrooms, a luxurious Hypnos® bed, a choice of pillows, TV with Freeview and free Wi-Fi. Every one of our UK hotels has a restaurant on site or close by, offering a wide range of options including breakfast and great value meal deals.

Premier Inn offers its own payment solution, Business Account, which provides companies with a simpler way to manage their hotel expenditure - www.premierinn.com/business. Terms and conditions apply.

Whitbread PLC is the owner of the UK's favourite hotel chain, Premier Inn and the UK's favourite coffee shop, Costa, as well as restaurant brands, Beefeater, Brewers Fayre and Table Table.

Whitbread is ranked no. 8 in the Sunday Times Best Big Companies to Work For list and employs around 50,000 people in over 2,200* outlets across the UK, serving over 27 million customers every month.

Whitbread has ambitious growth plans to increase the number of Premier Inn UK rooms to around 85,000 and to achieve global system sales of around £2.5bn for Costa by 2020.

At Whitbread we are committed to being a force for good in the communities in which we operate. Our CR programme, 'Good Together' is focused on three pillars of Team & Communities, Customer Wellbeing and Energy & Environment.

In the year ended 3 March 2016, Whitbread PLC reported a 12% increase in Group Revenue to £2,921 million and Underlying Profit before tax of £546.3 million up 11.9%.

Whitbread PLC is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100. It is also a member of the FTSE4Good Index.

*excludes Costa Franchise stores and Costa Express