Warehouse will boost East End Foods' profits by £50m

A £28 million development on the site of the former HP Sauce factory in Birmingham will boost a Black Country spice firm's annual profits by almost £50m, it was announced today.

East End Foods is building a cash and carry warehouse and 200-room hotel on land off Lichfield Road, Park Lane and Upper Thomas Street in Aston.

The West Bromwich-based firm currently has an annual turnover of £125m but chairman Tony Wouhra said he expected this to rise to £170m by April 2012.

And he has promised to make the four-star 14-floor hotel just as iconic as the much-loved former sauce factory.

"The dream is to make this the gateway for Birmingham," said Mr Wouhra, speaking at the site yesterday.

"We want the hotel to be an iconic building in the same way the HP Sauce factory was.

"In the same way people used to look from the Aston Expressway and see the HP tower people will soon see East End Foods."

Although workers have been on the site since October, so far work has concentrated on the re-routing of gas, electrics, sewerage and water.

Construction work will start in earnest next month with the erection of a 120,000 sq ft building to house the cash and carry warehouse plus a food technology centre.

The cash and carry warehouse, which will be the third owned by the company after others in Smethwick and Highgate, is expected to handle 450 transactions per day.

Work on the hotel is expected to start around October, once the cash and carry is finished. About 250 jobs in total will be created as a result of the development.

Mr Wouhra added: "We're excited about rejuvenating the area and providing employment for local residents."

Mr Wouhra said he would put the hotel out to franchise and was in discussions with three major industry chains. The entire project is expected to be finished by March 2013.