Travelodge to invest £100m in co-location with pubs

Published 18th Apr 2011

Travelodge is planning a £100m, 36 site expansion programme in partnership with UK pub companies, to be completed by 2015.

The budget hotel chain is already co-located with pub companies on 15 developments and Travelodge is now working with Greene King, JW Lees, Marston’s, Mitchells & Butlers (M&B) and JD Wetherspoons to find further development opportunities across the country.

The company said expansion plans came on the back of consumers continuing to eat out despite the economic conditions.

Paul Harvey, Travelodge managing director for development, said: “The pub companies have noticeably stepped up their development plans over recent months and in many parts of the country their target locations correspond with ours.

“We have been contacted by all the major players in the market and we are now pro-actively seeking out sites with them. A combined hotel/pub development is attractive to banks and funders, making the development process a lot quicker than it otherwise may be”.

In the last six months, Travelodge has exchanged on two properties with pub companies, which include a 53-room hotel on land adjacent to an existing pub in Kidderminster which was forward funded by Martsons, and a 62-bed hotel in Glossop which is being developed alongside a JD Wetherspoon.

Greene King is seeking to add 200 pubs to their estate by 2015 in order to reach 1,100 outlets across its pub brands, including Hungry Horse and Belthaven. Marston is also looking to add to their 500 sites by opening 20 new pubs in 2011 and 25 in 2012.

Meanwhile JD Wetherspoon plans to open 50 new sites a year for the next decade and Mitchell & Butlers will open 50 sites this year and 70 hotels in 2012.

The initiative by Travelodge follows its integration of 52 Innkeepers Lodge Hotels that the company acquired in July 2010, all of which have an M&B pub on site.

Source: ' Property Week '

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