Already co-located with pub companies on 15 developments across the UK, Travelodge is now working with Greene King, JW Lees, Marston’s, Mitchells & Butlers (M&B) and JD Wetherspoon to find further development opportunities across the country.
Travelodge managing director for development Paul Harvey 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”.
The expansion plans of the pub companies come on the back strong demand for pub food, despite – or perhaps because of - the economic climate. Expansion plans by pub companies include:
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- Greene King seeking to add 200 pubs to its estate by 2015
- Marston’s planning to open 20 new pubs (including Pitcher and Piano bars) in 2011 and 25 in 2012.
- JD Wetherspoon committing to opening 50 new sites a year for the next decade.
- M&B planning to open 50 sites this year and 70 hotels in 2012.
British Beer & Pub Association chief executive Brigid Simmonds said: “While pubs have faced tough times in recent years, this is a great example of how they are fighting back. Pubs are perfectly placed to provide the hospitality at sites next to hotels. Pubs now serve more than one billion meals each year and are diversifying in many ways to serve their local community. Innovation like this is a key ingredient in making a success of new pub openings – and it’s a success story we should be highlighting.”
Travelodge said that co-locating with pubs reduced costs for both parties, tipping the balance in favour of some schemes that were otherwise not viable for one party on its own. It also makes Travelodge hotels more attractive as it enables it to offer food and drink on site.
The initiative follows the integration by Travelodge of 52 Innkeepers Lodge Hotels that the company acquired in July 2010, all of which have an M&B pub on site.
In the last six months, Travelodge has exchanged a property in Kidderminster next to a Marstons pub and a property in Glossop alongside a JD Wetherspoon in the re-development of the vacant Howard Town Mill.
Aside from its pubs strategy, last month Travelodge announced that it had exchanged contracts on eight new hotels in London over the last six months. Combined, this represents a £60m investment in London. These hotels are in Balham, Edmonton Green, Enfield, Finchley, Greenwich, Sidcup, Teddington and Walthamstow.
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