LONDON BUSINESS NEWS – News that Travelodge’s 85th London hotel being underway marks another milestone for the UK budget hotel brand which operates nearly 600 budget hotels across the UK, Ireland and Spain.
The new hotel, in Stratford, east London will take the place of Gredley House, a vacant office building at 1-11 Broadway and see the site redeveloped into a 151-room Travelodge.
Planning permission has been granted and contracts have been exchanged for the site, which Travelodge are understood to have taken the new building, once complete, via a 25-year lease term with the building’s owner, Unex Group.
The site’s owner Unex Group, which has led much development over the last five decades in Stratford, east London, are using Barnes Construction to complete the new build, which just got underway this month. Barnes Construction also completed the London Wimbledon Central Travelodge and are part way through the build of the London Chiswick Travelodge.
Tony O’Brien, UK development director at Travelodge, said: “We have great experience of converting existing office space into Travelodge hotels and are looking forward to working with Unex to bring this former office building back to life.
“This type of development is a win-win solution for all parties, as it converts redundant space back into economic use, which is a highly sustainable way of developing, delivers significant inward investment and creates new jobs.
“We are also thrilled to be working with Barnes Construction on yet another successful project and hope this new hotel will be open for trading by the end of 2025.”
The History of Travelodge
Despite embarking on Travelodge’s 85th London hotel the Travelodge business has gone through many many changes, not just to its ownership, since it first entered the UK in the 1970’s by Charles Forte, the Scottish/Italian hotelier who founded the leisure and hotels conglomerate that ultimately became the Forte Group. In addition to the Travelodge brand his empire included the Little Chef and Happy Eater roadside restaurants plus the Crest, Forte Grand and Posthouse hotels.
The Travelodge brand was one of the first motel chains in the United States from the early 1940’s and Charles Forte spotted an opportunity in exporting the format to the UK.
In 1996, Charles Forte’s, Forte Group sold the Travelodge operation which after a couple of changes in ownership, the brand founds its way to Wyndham Hotels and Resorts in 2006, where it remains today.
SIMILAR LONDON BUSINESS NEWS – Premier Foods financials continues year on year growth / Heathrow Airport reports record winter / London still losing pubs and restaurants post-pandemic / London’s tourist economy roaring back to life
Business Chamber is an online business and small business news chamber, bringing you selected news on wider economic and business events interspersed with SME news and events that usually dont get a look in by mainstream syndicated news outlets.
