Travelodge, the UK’s first budget hotel chain, which operates nearly 600 hotels across the UK, Ireland and Spain, has announced it has resubmitted plans for a new 83-room hotel in Shrewsbury town centre. This hotel would be the group’s third hotel in the area and new CGIs of the proposed Shrewsbury Central Travelodge hotel can be viewed here.
The proposed hotel will be located in the centre of Shrewsbury town centre, on part of the current car park on the corner of Barker Street and Claremont Street, ideally located for business and leisure travellers visiting the area.
The proposed exterior facade and elevations have been designed through detailed consultation with the Local Planning Authority, to complement and integrate with the local street scene. The interior of the hotel will be developed to Travelodge’s new budget-luxe premium look and feel design. This is the group’s most radical transformation to date and this new format has been created on the success of the group’s budget chic hotel format, TravelodgePLUS, with feedback from the company’s largest consumer study – which surveyed around 5,000 UK business and leisure travellers to find the psychographics of the modern budget traveller. Key findings revealed that modern travellers crave style, choice and little homely touches to make it easier to work, rest and relax both inside and outside of the room.
Tony O’Brien, UK Development Director, Travelodge, said: “Shrewsbury is a growing town, with very limited, good quality, affordable hotel accommodation in the town centre, so there is a strong need for a new Travelodge to help fulfil growing demand from visiting business and leisure travellers.
“Travelodge and Morris Property have worked collaboratively and closely with the Local Planning Authority and taken account of all of the feedback that we received about the proposed development of this site for a new Travelodge hotel, to produce what we think is a fantastic design proposal, showcased by the new CGI’s that have been submitted to support the new planning application.
“Travelodge will be making a long-term commitment to Shrewsbury town centre and the new hotel will result in thousands of new overnight visitors each year, who will spend hundreds of thousands of pounds in the local shops, restaurants, bars and attractions, providing a long-term, multi-million pound boost to the local economy.
“The proposed new Shrewsbury Travelodge will be developed to our new, premium budget-luxe design. This is our biggest brand transformation to date and has been created in response to ever-increasing expectations from customers. Britain is now a nation of budget travellers, with more of us choosing to stay in budget hotels than any other hotel type, so thoughtful, stylish design and homely touches really matter in today’s world when staying away for business or leisure.”
Elizabeth Lowe, Head of Developments at Morris Property, comments: “Following the withdrawal of the previous planning application for a new Travelodge fronting Barker Street in Shrewsbury, we have been working closely with both the planning and conservation officers at Shropshire Council. This has seen us address concerns raised about the initial application, with particular attention paid to comments received from both the Town Council and Civic Society.
“The new application has been designed to complement the ambitions of the Big Town plan in not only providing a use deemed suitable for this location, which will greatly assist the tourist economy of the town, but also to help create public realm space around Rowley’s House and Mansion. This will hopefully assist the Council in identifying a potential occupier to look closely at the functionality of the building in light of a hotel next door.
“There will be some parking retained to the rear of the scheme and the intention is to look at EV charging for some of these spaces. If the infrastructure is available, this will be a welcome progression for the town, as currently there is a complete absence of EV charging available.”
Shrewsbury Central Travelodge will be the third Travelodge hotel in the town. The group operates two hotels in the area; Travelodge’s Shrewsbury Battlefield and Shrewsbury Bayston Hill.