Ocean Village hotel plan scrapped by Premier Inn owners

An application to redevelop vacant industrial land 24-32 Canute Road was submitted four years ago by Whitbread Group Plc, the hospitality company that owns Premier Inn.

Whitbread said the six-storey hotel near Solent Sky Museum would be only the second in the country to operate under the ZIP brand.

Facilities would include a restaurant and "compact" rooms aimed at attracting customers on a tight budget.

Plans for a hotel and flats at Canute Road, Southampton, have been withdrawn by the applicant (Image: Axiom Architects)

But the application, which also included a seven-storey block of 27 flats, was never decided by the city council and has now been withdrawn.

A Premier Inn spokesperson said: "We are a significant investor in Southampton with three Premier Inns trading in the city centre and a number of hotels at the airport and elsewhere around the city.

“Though our hotels continue to trade very well in Southampton, we have decided our initial proposals for the Canute Road location aren’t quite right.

“So we have taken the decision to withdraw our application. This gives us more freedom to consider how best to use the site, and we will be sure to share our thinking with our neighbours and local stakeholders in due course.

The scheme included a block of flats overlooking Solent Sky Museum in Albert Road South (Image: Axiom Architects)

Ward councilllor Sarah Bogle added: "I look forward to hearing more about any alternative proposals from Whitbread, having been engaged in the original consultation.

"I hope we can find a suitable use for this location that works for the neighbourhood."

Whitbread had sought consent to replace four empty buildings on the site with a hotel, plus 13 one-bedroom and 14 two-bedroom flats.

Speaking at the time Derek Griffin, Whitbread’s head of acquisitions in London and across the south, said: "We are continuing to trial ZIP by Premier Inn following the launch of our first hotel in Cardiff in 2019.

"Customer feedback on the format is positive, and with a year of trading behind us at Cardiff we are looking to trial the brand in a central location."

Cllr Bogle and Cllr John Noon both welcomed the proposals.

Cllr Bogle said: "Overall I think this is a positive development for this part of the city and could bring more footfall into the Ocean Village area as well as create more jobs."

Cllr Noon added: “I do feel this development will be beneficial for the city and the Ocean Village area."