10,000 new jobs for Whitbread

Leisure giant Whitbread, which owns Premier Inn and Costa Coffee, is to create 10,000 jobs over the next three years, it announced today.

And Shropshire is set to benefit with jobs coming at a new branch of Costa in Newport and with the arrival of Premier Inn in the heart of Shrewsbury.

At least 40 jobs will be created when the new £8 million 136-bedroom hotel opens on the site of the former Telephone House in the town.

The proposed new branch of Costa in Newport will add to those in Telford, Shrewsbury, Bridgnorth, Ludlow, Church Stretton, Whitchurch, and Oswestry.

The expansion of the group, which also owns Beefeater Hotels and Brewers Fayre restaurants, has already seen 2,500 jobs created in the last year.

Whitbread has plans for 10,000 Premier Inn rooms and will continue the aggressive expansion of Costa, which has increased its UK store numbers by 158 to 1,375 over the past year.

The ambitious expansion plans were revealed despite a 0.9 per cent fall in like-for-like sales at Premier Inn in the 11 weeks to February 16, although it said it had outperformed the overall hotels market, which was down three pc outside London.

Costa coffee continued its 'excellent' performance, with sales up 24.4 per cent helped by store openings.

Its restaurants division returned to like-for-like sales growth after it came up against weaker comparisons with the previous Christmas, which was hit by Arctic weather.

Whitbread said it was on course to meet expectations for the year to the end of February, but shares were down nearly three per cent.

Whitbread's update provides further evidence that the UK's economy, which is teetering on the edge of another recession, has hit the hotel market.

Premier has three branches in Telford, one in Oswestry and one in Shrewsbury.