Marston's £40m deal on hotels
Hundreds of new jobs will be created in a tie-up between Wolverhampton-based Banks's brewery Marston's and budget hotel chain Travelodge, it was revealed today.
Hundreds of new jobs will be created in a tie-up between Wolverhampton-based Banks's brewery Marston's and budget hotel chain Travelodge, it was revealed today.
Marston's, the brewing and pubs giant, is buying greenfield sites on busy A-roads where it can build pubs and then lease land to Travelodge for the construction of a hotel alongside.
The £40 million deal will help Marston's to meet ambitious targets to build 60 new managed pubs in the next three years, for which it raised £165m in a rights issue this summer.
The two groups bought a site in Wincanton, Somerset, last week, where they plan to build a Marston's family pub and a 57-room hotel. They are said to have identified two more sites for purchase this year, and are on the lookout for at least 10 more. And they are writing to over 100 landowners and developers in a bid to firm up possible locations.
The development plans will secure work for 700 people based at Marston's head office in Chapel Ash, Wolverhampton. The firm, famous for its Banks's and Pedigree ales, also plans to take on hundreds more posts on top of more than 12,000 people currently employed in its 2,000-strong pubs empire across the UK.
Derek Andrew, Marston's head of inns and taverns, its managed pubs division, said: "This initiative will deliver a combination of excellent value pub and hotel accommodation, giving the customers the best of both worlds."
He hoped families on housing estates nearby, as well as people on business or holiday, would also use the pubs.
Paul Harvey, managing director for development at Travelodge, said: "By co-locating with Marston's we will be able to develop sites which would not have been viable for ourselves alone."